( CNN ) -- In this age of austerity , America is run by men with wealth that could have leapt from the pages of `` The Great Gatsby . '' The president 's worth is estimated at $ 8.3 million , while Mitt Romney 's is placed at a staggering $ 255 million . Both have tried to make a character issue out of each other 's lifestyle -- conservatives complain that President Barack Obama takes too many vacations and White House aides say that Romney is living on `` another planet . '' Given his wealth , Romney could probably afford to buy one . He has filed an application to bulldoze his $ 12 million house in La Jolla , California , and build an even bigger one on top of it . How can either of these men empathize with the financial plight of America 's middle class ? American democracy is saturated with cash . Last week in Wisconsin , Gov . Scott Walker spent $ 30.5 million to beat Tom Barrett , who personally raised just $ 3.9 million . Adding super PAC spending , the race generated about $ 63.5 million . Tea party members will say that Democrats have little right to complain about the amount of money spent on a recall election that they triggered . But there 's no denying that the Supreme Court 's Citizens United decision , which opened the floodgates for corporate campaign contributions , helped Walker keep his governorship . Forbes estimates that 14 billionaires gave to the Republican incumbent ; only one of them lives in Wisconsin . Discussion about the role of money in politics invariably centers on campaign donations . But with such gigantic sums flying around , there has to be a cultural impact , too . Politics has become so saturated with cash that its protagonists have started to feel surreally detached from everyday life . On the Democratic side , there was Anna Wintour 's bizarre ad celebrating her wonderful life and inviting Obama supporters to have dinner with her and Sarah Jessica Parker . For the Republicans , you may remember Romney 's attempt to make a $ 10,000 bet with Rick Perry . But the best has to be Rick Santorum 's moving claim that he , too , had suffered in the credit crunch because his house fell 25 % in value . Before you well up , that 's a fall from $ 2 million to $ 1.6 million . Everybody suspects that politicians are rolling in money , but a review of the figures might surprise even the most cynical . The average citizens ' annual income is $ 49,445 . In 2010 , the average net worth of a U.S. senator was $ 13.2 million , and the average worth of a House member was $ 5.9 million . The wealth is spread across both parties : In fact , seven out of 10 of the richest senators are Democrats . Romney , Obama : Why they have trouble connecting . One side effect is that Washington has gained impressive financial and cultural clout . In 2011 , Washington became the richest city in the United States . Its average income of $ 84,000 is 60 % higher than the national median . There are several reasons for this . Washington is surrounded by rich suburbs ; the government actually grew during the recession , and federal employee compensation averages out at $ 126,000 . Most importantly , the city is a magnet for lobbyists . Lobbying and campaign work have become big businesses that offer huge dollar rewards to rival the returns of 1980s junk bonds . Betting on candidates or special interests has become a form of speculation : Land a big client and a lobbyist could cream off a sizable percentage . Then there 's the Wall Street money . Since 1998 , the financial sector has outspent any other sector in lobbying , to the tune of $ 4.6 billion . In 2011 , it employed more than 1,000 lobbyists and spent more than $ 82 million . Of course , most members of Congress earned their money the good old-fashioned way ( including marrying and inheriting it ) , and the voter should n't necessarily hold their success against them . One politician who stands out for having a comparatively unsettled financial situation is Obama . Yes , his $ 8.3 million is a lot of money , but he comes from an unusually impoverished background , including a period lived on food stamps . His contemporary wealth is built on a mix of his salary and royalties from his popular books . Still the days of the citizen legislator are long gone . The intensity of luxury and wealth has to affect the ability of lawmakers to empathize with voters on very low salaries or none at all . It 's easy to imagine that the debate over health care reform or the Bush tax cuts is affected by the fact that , for many people on the Hill , the former is an academic question and the latter is personally advantageous . This is n't a partisan liberal statement . The median identity of a congressman is a rich , white , middle-aged , male lawyer . There is a deficit of experience of running a business or trying to survive on welfare payments . There is a good case for another round of campaign finance reform , although Citizens United will make any such effort hard to accomplish . But even if individual or corporate contributions were limited , this would n't affect a bigger cultural problem in contemporary Washington . Government is increasingly run by people who , financially , have little in common with their constituents . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Timothy Stanley .
Tim Stanley : The $ 30.5 million Scott Walker spent to keep his Wisconsin seat was staggering . Stanley says the amount of money thrown around in politics makes politicians seem detached . He says average member of Congress is worth millions ; presidential candidates are , too . Washington 's power elite has little in common with average citizens , he says .