Maybe it’s not just the lobbyists. If you’ve ever wondered why the federal government these days never seems to “get it” when it comes to the concerns of average people, USA Today has some pretty good leads. We all know that lobbyists’ grip on Congress has grown tighter in the past decade, and that nine times out of 10, the lobbies work against the interests of regular folks, i.e., we the people. But that doesn’t explain the indifference that citizens so often face when dealing with ordinary federal bureaucrats.

It turns out they’re not like the rest of us, and we’re not just talking about their dull jobs and great health care plans. An article in the weekend edition of USA Today revealed that 19 percent, nearly one in five, of all federal workers make annual salaries of $100K or more. A quick “for instance”: 1700 people in the Federal Aviation Administration make more than $170K per year. That’s not all: the average federal employee’s pay is now $71,206, compared to the national private sector average, $40,331 – a nearly 80 percent difference! No wonder they can’t identify with the people they’re supposedly “serving.”