Ninety and 60.
These are two numbers that hold immense significance for the current state of American politics.
On Wednesday, in direct opposition to the [90 percent of the American public](http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2013/apr/04/lee-leffingwell/lee-leffingwell-says-polls-show-90-percent-america/) that supports some form of background-check reform for gun ownership, less than 60 percent of the U.S. Senate voted in support of it, which killed the bill.
Why? Absolutely nothing but pure, unadulterated cowardice.
Every two years, we vote for a different section of the Senate. We do this with the expectation that when it comes time to vote, they will vote according the mores of their home state, the values of their constituency.
And yet, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the American people are in support of something, the members of the U.S. Senate chose to vote in opposition to the people who support them. Rather than side with the people who hired them, they chose to align themselves with the National Rifle Association, an especially bewildering decision, considering 74 percent of NRA members support background checks.
I couldn’t do anything but shake my head in sorrow as I watched the parents and families of the Newtown victims sobbing on the Senate floor, feeling hopeless in the hands of a Congress that essentially said it doesn’t care about the voice of the American people.
According to a collaboration between Twitter account @GunDeaths and Slate magazine, more than 3,482 lives have been taken by guns since Dec. 14. Yes, you read that correctly; 3,482 mothers, sons, fathers, daughters — all lost. And yet, our legislators see no need to enact legislation that would help reduce the speed at which this toll rises.
In the face of such egregious injustice, I find it difficult to maintain hope in our elected officials. They’re more afraid of insulting lobbyists than endangering the lives of everyday Americans. Citizens United v. FEC has truly brought us into an age where money is power, where votes lose value and the true meaning of democracy is being lost.
As I’ve [written before](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2013/3/1/only-voice-people-can-end-our-new-gilded-age/), money has always had undue influence in American politics. In the past, however, the fear of being voted out of office would stop donation-hungry Congressmen from going directly against their constituents. As we can see, that paradigm has shifted — and not for the better. Uninformed senators listen to lobbyists for their information on issues, spend little time in their home districts and vote on what they think is going to be the most advantageous for them on the Hill.
There is no easy solution to this problem. A start is to remember the senators who voted against sensible, bipartisan gun control. Remember how they chose money and appeasing the NRA over doing their jobs. And vote accordingly.