“If you can’t drink a lobbyist’s whiskey, take their money, attend their fête champêtre or commingle with their women and still vote against them in session, you don’t belong in politics.” – Anonymous
Commercial interests have lobbied the government since the Continental Congress, which received a request to end the molasses tax from a bellicose group of crafty merchants. By the mid 1800s, Samuel Colt was giving away pistols to Congressmen and their offspring in Washington DC. And that is the sort of activity that has tainted the reputation of lobbying for most causes for centuries.
Everyone knows about the “high-roller” lobbyists that embody the barons of industry and special interest groups. Yet we seldom recognize those who work tirelessly for us. These are people who spend days at municipal offices pleading for our causes for us. They pay for their own parking and brown bag their lunches. And without them, politicians could inflict unlimited debasement upon us.
Lobbyists come in many flavors, brands, and species; “some good, some bad.” But, somehow the latter always seems to garner the most attention. “For, the cream always rises to the top, especially when the milk is sour.” They are well paid and able to extricate conveyances from our government and influence politicians to pass their legislation over the interests of our unpaid citizen volunteers.
Special interest advocates canvas the halls of our capitols daily to argue for specific bills and amendments. It is a practice viewed by many “paid lobbyists” as decadent and heterodox. Their activities are monitored by paid lobbyists, but they “navigate the legal tightrope masterfully.” They know the courts protect free speech and they toil under the veneer of the people’s Constitution.
At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, James Madison, a strong Federalist, believed in crafting a constitution that rendered powerful interest groups incapable of subjugating the will of the people. He hoped his “Virginia Plan” for a bicameral government would protect unrepresented citizens from special interests. “People don’t realize how much of our laws are written by lobbyists.” – Eric Schmidt
Ronald Reagan told us “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned it bears a striking resemblance to the first.” Throughout the decades, we have become acclimated to lobbying and have learned to accept it’s consequences as a part of representative government. Much like the “comfort” of a passionate mate, once politicians taste the fruits of patronage they receive from special interests, they start working for them not for the people.
Platoons of lobbyists hunker down daily in the capitol trenches waiting to ambush barristers and persuade them to compromise. Our poor unarmed foot soldiers that do our begging for us, are now totally out flanked and out financed. Not only do they have to deal with well financed powerbrokers from every industry, but now even the cities have hired lobbyists to represent them. Next time you pay your tax bill ask your city or county tax assessor how much of your taxes pay for lobbyists.
And just when we thought we had figured this out, a new breed of “petitioners” has invaded the vestibules of our parliaments. And, they do not have to play by the same rules as their cousins since they are not “defined” as “guns for hire.” These mercenaries work for individuals and groups that lobby. They run errands, answer phones, etc. giving free labor to politicians. This takes jobs away from citizen workers and it influences decisions that legislators make. The effectiveness of free citizen lobbyists has become totally enervated. Today you get the type of lobbyist you pay for.
James Madison never anticipated this precarious evolution within our political macrocosm. The Constitution stated that control of government is “by the people, for the people, and of the people.” Yet “the people”, aka the electorate, are a bigger part of the government than these hired guns are. Citizen lobbyists, aka activists, have no money to buy their bills to the floor. The only tool they have is their dedication and determination to do the right thing for the causes that they believe in.
It would be unconstitutional to outlaw lobbying and to refer to “all lobbyists” in the pejorative. There are some very fine people representing nonprofits, legal watchdog groups, charity organizations and dedicated citizen reformers. They work tirelessly for free helping legislators pass necessary laws. Sadly they are outnumbered by overpaid “mouthpieces” with no skin in the game who will go the extra ten miles to discredit our non-paid citizen advocates for their companies embellishment.
When the Puritans of Nottinghamshire docked the Mayflower upon the shores of Plymouth Harbor, they had one common goal: “To escape oppression and obtain freedom.” And many gave their lives for it. This was the one courageous act that led to the signing of the Mayflower Compact: A concordance to submit to a “governance” chosen by “common consent” and to live by its laws.
This set a precedent for our republic, one that has braved the sands of time for over 200 years.
John Adams said “Democracy, while it lasts is more bloody than an aristocracy or monarchy. It never lasts long. It wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” Thomas Jefferson added “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” In progressive America, if citizens don’t take a proactive role in their government, they’ll prove that John Adams was right.
Every time we empower anyone to have a louder and more affluent voice in government than ours, we are helping to drive another nail in the coffin of our republic. Will “we the people” become the “centurion legionnaires” of our democracy and change the course of history and prove John Adams wrong? After living many painful years under the constraints of progressivism, will the people wake up and wish they’d stopped to smell the aroma of freedom and liberty when they had a chance?
Vladimir Lenin told us, “The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” America is the biggest business in the world, yet politicians can’t balance their budget. Most of their pork barrel spending is championed by lobbyists. We need more patriots who care about the future of our republic, not their own future. It is no secret most politicians that go to Washington come home with a much larger portfolio than the one they had when first elected.
Paid corporate lobbyists know politicians are venerable during election years. That’s why so many worthless laws pass during a lame duck session of Congress. We forget that Congress depends on our votes also. They’ll listen to grassroot organizers if they speak loud enough. In a war of words, Congress will cater to the voices of their constituents over lobbyists if they yell loud enough! “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”- John F. Kennedy
