lobbyists

            The “lobbying problem” starts with our First Amendment.  Amazingly, A1 is known to schoolchildren and most adults as the free speech amendment. But there are 6 rights spelled out in A1.  The phrase not to “abridging the right of free speech” is just one of them. The last two are, “or the right of people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” So get your shoes on and go to Washington to plead your case.  What? No time to do this? Join the club.  So your petitioning rights may be handed to the different organizations you belong to.  Your union, church, farm organization, environmental group, tax policy advocates, etc.  They have professionals, otherwise known as lobbyists or advocates, who spend time with lawmakers petitioning the government in your behalf.  To take away the lobbying rights or limit them violates the First Amendment.  Dictatorships have no lobbyists.

            Lobbyists do more and less than most people realize.  They not only sway with arguments and ply with charm.  They write a lot of our legislation.  Do you think Senator Foghorn writes his own 2700-page bills?  He has neither time nor inclination.  Instead, organizations that ally with him often hand him a bill and ask his authorship.  Not conforming to this model is how the Rep I work with got attention in our legislature.  He wrote a lot of his own bills. They were simple and common sense and they passed.  But while lobbyists have such power due to legislators who are busy with the public, they are also less than they seem.  Legislators often toss their messages in the trash can.  Have you ever gotten a loud email asking you to forward a pre-prepared message to your congressman?  And so you and 2000 others sent that same message to your Rep.  No doubt his staff gave him one copy and then rolling their eyes, deleted the rest of the forwards.  If you want to reach your Rep with communication, sit down and construct a thoughtful letter yourself.  Personally authored stuff gets the first attention.  Also the noise, brought by the news media, about corruption of lobbyists and legislators is often a lot of alarmist screech. The media wants to be sole or at least the main petitioner of government.  Lobbyists and lawmakers have strict rules about behavior and rarely do they transgress because the penalties involve prison.  Does anyone ever put the news media in prison for publishing/broadcasting false stuff?

            Bottom line: people who peaceably assemble in organizations to advocate for what they want are both necessary in a free society as are their lobbyists and the listening ear of elected officials. 

            Money in politics also gets a lot of trash talk.  Ever try to get yourself elected with no funds? It takes money and a lot of it to get the public’s attention.  At least half the public isn’t paying attention and can’t name the Vice President or their two Senators.  This is how a republic is designed to work despite a lot of bozo voters.  In a true democracy, every little decision requires a referendum and all voters must be highly informed lest a disastrous decision is voted.  But in a republic we trust our attention to governing to dedicated individuals we elect. It works somewhat; even at that we get Obamacare. Money buys attention and is equated to political speech by the Supreme Court.  The news media hates this.  They want to be the only source of information to steer your vote. 

            It takes a larger amount of money to do direct mail, newspaper/radio/tv ads, campaign signs, tours by the candidate with staff, and the staffing to win a large state-wide election.  It takes an average $1.2 million to win a congressional district and about $10 million to win a state election.  Chuckle point: Dems who pontificate against big money in politics have the 5 highest donors.  #6 is the Republican Koch brothers—who use about 10% of their funds to support moderate Democrats. 

            The problem isn’t that money has gotten into politics but politics has gotten into money. The feds spend almost $4 trillion each year, regulating businesses to favor some and clobber others into various political outcomes.  If your business organization doesn’t spend liberally, Big Government will start doing things to you that makes success doubtful or even puts you out of business.  Likewise other businesses try to buy favor and get government projects while disadvantaging competitors.  It’s a huge game.  If the game weren’t huge, it wouldn’t attract the money. The solution is to downsize government, not the economy.  Restrict government, not business.  And the influence of lobbyists will then decline.