I realized the other day while walking around the Capitol building that I had never met anyone representing the “Lamp Lighter Association.” Of course, since we’ve had electric light bulbs since 1879, their association (Or union? Maybe even a guild?) doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

It’s likely that at some point in our history the people who went around lighting lamps lobbied some level of government for higher pay, more benefits, or even just to lecture people on the ills of this newfangled electricity fad. However, just because the now (almost) extinct lamp lighters are no longer walking (and presumably lighting) the halls of Congress, that doesn’t mean those halls are even slightly less crowded.