Mr. Schneider Goes to Washington

Mr. Schneider goes to Washington is a 2007 American toungueincheek documentary film by Jonathan Neil Schneider that takes a look at campaign financing in Washington. The film debuted at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2007, and was released on DVD in 2008.

The film is a collection of interviews with lobbyists, lawmakers, government watchdogs, and porn stars, speaking about the influence of campaign contributions on politics and politicians. The adult film actors discuss a statement Jack Oliver had made about how Americans spend more money on pornography than they do on politics. Schneider had wished to include footage of a fundraising video produced by Senator Mike Crapo but, when Schneider was not allowed its use, he instead recruited homeless people to recreate scenes from the video.Frustrated by Washington and his apathy towards it, Mr. Schneider is finally shaken off his comfortable couch and compelled to storm to the capital of the worlds only superpower to find out what is going on with his government. Quickly, Mr. Schneider discovers that things in Washington are even worse than he imagined. Because of their dependence on big business and special interests to finance their political futures, almost every decision the President, VicePresident and Members of Congress make is corrupted. After all, there is no bigger issue facing our political leaders than getting reelected. From education to health care, social security to taxes, foreign policy to gas prices, Americans interests repeatedly take a back seat to that of special interests. Amazingly, Washingtons political elite agrees. Lobbyists, Members of Congress, lawyers, even the Commissioner of the agency responsible for regulating the influence of money in Washington candidly admit this is the most destructive influence on American democracy. Yet no one seems to care. More people voted for their favorite American Idol candidate than for their favorite candidate for President of the United States. We care more about the marital status of our favorite celebrity than what our elected leaders are doing in Washington. This isnt lost on the media, whose news coverage reflects its audiences preoccupation. The result a population of uniformed, disengaged and disenf

Source: Wikipedia