Public cynicism regarding Washington isn’t just a mood; it has become the default setting for American citizenship. When a tiny fraction of the electorate expresses genuine faith in our federal representation, we aren’t dealing with a simple policy disagreement. We are witnessing a wholesale failure of trust. Whether you sit on the Right, the Left, or reject the traditional labels altogether, the reality hits home: our leadership has disconnected from the day-to-day realities of the people they represent.
This crisis isn’t defined by how long politicians have been in office, but by what they become once they enter the Beltway ecosystem. They transform into the “Insidersaurus.”
First introduced by me during my U.S. Senate campaign — where the ad was featured as Fox News’ “Video of the Week” and highlighted by The Atlantic — the Insidersaurus represents a distinct species of political class. The defining characteristic of these insiders is not their career longevity, but their fundamental insulation. They have completely lost touch with regular people. Instead of interacting with the real world, they surround themselves with a self-perpetuating echo chamber of other insiders, special interests, and political operators who feed off the shared power and influence of the Capitol.
Where does that leave our fellow citizens?
While the Insidersaurus class protects its own and thrives on the currency of insider access, everyday people are left on the outside looking in. In national polling, government incompetence remains cited as a critical non-economic problem facing the country today. The Pew Research Center outlines how deep partisan polarization has eroded basic faith in democratic institutions, showing that voters are desperate for systemic changes that dilute the influence of major donors and insulated elites.
From the conservative viewpoint, the diagnosis points directly to a bloated, permanent administrative state that answers to no voter. From this lens, real reform looks like returning primary regulatory powers to the states, demanding strict fiscal accountability, and pushing bipartisan common-sense efforts such as the CLEAN Congress Act to eliminate special legal exemptions for politicians. Progressives look at the exact same building and see a system captured by monied special interests and weaponized gridlock. Their battle lines are drawn around ethics overhauls and proposed measures such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act, which attempts to independentize federal oversight and curb public-office profiteering.
But beneath these ideological divisions lies a singular, universal truth: the Insidersaurus is feeding on its own influence while the gears of actual governance grind to a halt.
AND JUST LIKE THAT, GERMANY’S ESTABLISHMENT WENT KAPUT
My time as the only elected president of the Queen Anne’s County Commission taught me that municipal governance demands immediate accountability. You cannot hide behind an ideological playbook or an army of insulated advisers when a budget needs balancing or a project stalls; your neighbors will call you out at the local hardware store. Washington desperately needs a dose of that localized reality.
We must demand an end to the performance art defining modern politics. True leadership means functioning as reliable caretakers of the public interest and looking out for our fellow citizens — not building personal brands and protecting an insulated circle of insiders while regular Americans are ignored.
Eric Wargotz, M.D., is a physician, businessman, President of MedChi, former US Senate Nominee, and the former elected President of the Queen Anne’s County Board of County Commissioners. Views are his own.