Back in 1990, the average U.S. House of Representative candidate spent about $400,000 ($900,000 in 2024 dollars) to run for office. That amount became $3 million in 2022, according to Wikipedia.
Fast forward to the controversial 2010 “Citizens United” Supreme Court ruling that unleashed nearly unlimited political spending and gave birth to the Super PACs (political action committees).
Now we have more money than ever polluting our politics, with Elon Musk spending $277 million in 2024 to help elect Donald Trump as president and enticing voters with $1 million checks to vote for his chosen candidates.
In addition to money swaying elections, we have career politicians who live in a financial world that has little resemblance to Main Street America and its hollowed-out middle class.
Susan Drumheller. Courtesy photo
On Nov. 15, 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that the net worth of the top 0.1% of households in the U.S. accounts for $23.3 trillion of the wealth in the nation, while the bottom 50% have only $4.2 trillion.
The current wealth disparity is at a record high in the U.S., and a far cry from the idolized 1950s, when most families could afford to live on one income.
We have returned to a pre-Depression “Gilded Age” — a nation of haves and have-nots. At the top are the modern robber barons (Big Tech) capitalizing on our personal digital lives to get richer and buy more influence in Washington, D.C., and a president who throws Great Gatsby-themed parties while denying the poorest of the poor their SNAP benefits.
Meanwhile, the polarization between the parties (turbocharged by social media algorithms) has brought no progress in solving the real-world economic and social problems facing this country.
The good news is a growing number of independent candidates are building momentum with hard work and common-sense ideas that challenge the emerging oligarchy.
One such candidate is Idahoan Todd Achilles, who is running against Jim Risch for the U.S. Senate.
Achilles grew up on a family farm, is a U.S. Army veteran (served as a tank commander), worked in the tech industry for 20 years, served in the Idaho Legislature and teaches public policy. But it’s not his background that grabbed my attention as much as his priorities.
Here are a few that resonate with me:
• Protect and grow the middle class;
• Stop corruption in Congress with policies such as campaign finance reform, a ban on congressional stock trading and term limits;
• Reduce the national debt (our debt has grown under both the first and second Trump terms);
• Keep public lands public and restore the federal workforce that manages it;
• Keep government out of our private lives;
• Breakup corporate control of the internet, and regulate AI and social media to protect users and their personal data.
I don’t agree with Achilles on all issues, but I don’t expect to. Political differences require elected officials in a democracy to be curious, find compromise and forge a path that we all can live with.
Achilles has been crisscrossing the state listening to voters, studying the issues and building a movement to return government to one that’s focused on the needs of citizens, not the desires of the rich and powerful.
Meanwhile, Risch has held no town hall meetings (despite lengthy recesses from Congress), and at the age of 82, after 17 years in the Senate, sits comfortably on a campaign war chest of more than $2 million.
When at work, he and his colleagues have failed to exercise their duty to be a check on the power of the presidency, earning Congress the nickname “U.S. Duma,” after Putin’s compliant Russian state assembly.
The coming Fourth of July is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This year may determine whether our nation can live up to the promise of a country of the people, by the people and for the people.
As former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “The most important political office is that of the private citizen.” Let’s exercise that power and give Achilles a fighting chance to fight for us and our democracy.
Achilles will be in Sandpoint for a meet-and-greet event from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, at the Sandpoint Community Hall (204 S. First Ave.). For more information, go to achillesforidaho.com.
Susan Drumheller is a former journalist and a 26-year resident of Bonner County.
Want to support independent local journalism?
The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned and operated by people who were born and raised in Sandpoint. The Reader is owned by Publisher Ben Olson, Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone and Senior Writer Soncirey Mitchell. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.
TIMBER WARS: Six-part series, February-November 2022. GO READ IT»
WHERE ARE THE WORKERS?: Five-part series, September-October 2021. GO READ IT»
THE AMERICAN REDOUBT: Seven-part series, November-December 2017. GO READ IT»
STANDOFF AT RUBY RIDGE: 25 Years Later. Five-part series, August-September 2017. GO READ IT»
Curious about what media the locals use? Check our 2018 Local Media Survey. GO SEE »
Sandpoint in Pictures
Filmmaker Jimmy Matlosz of the Idaho Film Company has made a series of mini documentaries about influential Sandpoint locals, including the late Dann Hall and Erik Daarstad as well as icons Diane Michaels and Dan Shook. He is currently working on a series of interviews connected to the history of the Panida Theater. Jimmy is a 30-year veteran filmmaker who's work can be seen at dpmatlosz.com.
Meet the Reader
Ever wonder who makes the Reader happen? Here's a behind-the-scenes look pieced together by summer 2017 intern McCalee Cain in which Ben, Cameron and Lyndsie explain what exactly about the Reader keeps them coming back to their shabby (but well-loved) office each week.
