Constituent does not equal Consumer

Every morning I wake up to C-SPAN radio, before it even gets light outside. For some reason, it's easier for my brain to come to waking when political speakers are demanding my attention, asking for Change, insisting Yes We Can or trying to drum up some party unity.

This morning I noticed that, when addressing all manner of issues (from health care, investment and the economy, environment, education), decision-makers tend refer to their constituents primarily as consumers - as if the only factor that matters in any of these issues is money.

Excuse me for being picky, but I truly see myself as a citizen first and a consumer at least third or fourth, maybe even last. This way of thinking - the long shadow that "economics" casts - seems to be entrenched in the minds of those who should be thinking of their constituents' needs, not their wallets.

I don't want a politican to look at me and see dollar signs. But how to fix that unless the ubiquitous stakeholder companies are taken out of the legislative, judicial, and executive equation? I read a lot about that problem (and have a few posts on it), but I wonder what other major patterns in American society are contributing to the current myopic focus on money. We should be shaking our politicians out of their avarice and demanding they re-focus on what really sustains people -- health, shelter, family, and an occupation by which to contribute to society.