|
The Transliteration
of Lobbying
March 14, 2001
John Q. Government
By most standards, the difference between
lobbying and bribing is only a matter of scale; others might argue that the
distinction is only semantic. If government is the vehicle through which citizens
find representation, then lobbying is the vehicle by which these citizens
exert their influence on their elected officials.
The people of this country act through
their elected officials [at least those people who
vote]. A vote acts [when counted] as support for the policy, agenda and
even character of an elected official. A vote is a vote of confidence that
a citizen gives to an elected official; it is reflection that the citizen
sees some of their own life and their own values in those upheld by their
chosen elected servitor. It is the way a person issues their support for the
political decision making process.
Once elected, political officials go
about the business of outlining the rules and goals that shape the lives of
their electors; they turn their electoral-stump "promises" into political
action. But there is much more to Washington politics than tax cuts, abortion
rights, and carbon dioxide emissions laws. How do the elected officials in
Washington know what their electors want? In Washington, elected officials
are "lobbied" by their constituents to make them aware of certain issues.
For example, pistachio growers lobby our government; are people aware of this
fact? Well they do, and here's why:
Pistachio growers lobby our government,
to make sure that there are penalties placed on companies that seek to sell
imported pistachios below market rates; and the reason is simple: In order
to make sure that they can compete with cheaper wages and production costs
abroad, these pistachio growers have a vested interest in maintaining a certain
price on imports - through their lobbying efforts, they have convinced the
United States government to place a tariff on pistachio imports, so pistachio
growers don't lose business to the "guy down the block".
This is only one of many examples of
how public and private interest groups seek to influence/buy action from politicians;
sometimes this is done simply by signing petitions and showing elected officials
that people really are concerned about pistachio prices. Other times, as covered
by the New York Times in an article titled, "Hard
Lobbying on Debtor Bill Pays Dividend", this is done through campaign
contributions by large banks and credit card companies:
"Where money goes, sometimes
you see results," acknowledged Representative George W. Gekas, a Pennsylvania
Republican who was a sponsor of the bill in the House. But Mr. Gekas
said that political contributions did not explain why most members
of Congress and Mr. Bush appeared ready to overhaul the bankruptcy
system.
Mr. Gekas said the implication
that money was buying support for the bankruptcy bill was insulting,
and that the bill did most consumers a favor by ending practices by
some debtors that had forced up interest rates for everybody else.
"Bankruptcies are costly to all of us who don't go bankrupt," Mr.
Gekas said.
Mr. Gekas is right about one thing,
this bill may be a good thing for "all of us who don't go bankrupt"; but to
insinuate that money DIDN'T buy the support is ludicrous.
Money bought this support.
Money bought Marc Rich his pardon.
Money buys power, and power serves
money.
To be a capitalist democracy and deny
the influence of money on the political process is to ignore the most obvious
of realities. Is this a problem?
Consider this: If George W. Bush thought
it was a problem, he would be lobbying for John McCain and his McCain-Feingold
campaign finance reform bill.
George W. Bush doesn't support campaign
finance reform, because big business pays his allowance.
George W. Bush doesn't support gun
control because he's being paid to look the other way.
George W. Bush isn't going to support
mandatory curbs on carbon monoxide emissions because he's being paid to ignore
the environment.
George W. Bush is a bought man. If
you took all that money out from under him, you'd have nothing more than a
goofy smile and 52 cents worth of manure.
Take that to Washington and lobby it.
|
