You know what makes the world go around? Money. It truly is that simple. You want to drive a nice car? Better have money. You’d like a big house? Better have money.
But what if you’re a certain organization or corporation and you want (or don’t want) a piece of legislation to go through Congress? Well kids, you better have money. A lot of it.
Lobbyists are defined by the Washington Post as, “A person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest.” A special interest is never poor, by the way. Lobbyists are, in my estimation, a leech on the political system, approved (and utilized) by both parties, and by most accounts do nothing but evil.
I’m not kidding.
It’s hard to get into specifics here, because no politician wants this sort of thing to be widely publicized. But according to the New York Times in a story published Sept. 11, Republican House minority leader John Boehner is known to keep close company with “Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.”
It doesn’t stop at just being friendly, though. (Also note that I’m not trying to single Boehner out, this is merely the most recent lobbyist story to appear. Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel from New York was actually brought up on extensive corruption charges recently.)
According to the Times, “[the aforementioned companies] have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes and are now leading fund-raising efforts for his Boehner for Speaker campaign, which is soliciting checks of up to $37,800 each, the maximum allowed.”
They are paying him, but not with an actual salary of course (because that’d be wrong!), but with gifts and campaign contributions. For those big companies, spending that money is an investment.
Those businesses aren’t wasting money here, I promise. That’s money very well spent. Politicians are in the business of being re-elected, and without those large sums of money, getting re-elected is tough. Money wins elections. How? More money means more exposure, more TV ads, more campaigning. Grassroots only gets you so far.
Simply, is it okay that major corporations are throwing so much money to highly influential lawmakers? Are we sure that’s right? I’m not sure at all. It’s a legal way to buy votes, to buy protection, to buy the legal ability to do whatever those corporations choose.
Now, there are some who will say, “This is just how things are in Washington. It’s not bad, just the sign of the times!” And because of that, we should ignore the huge snowball bearing down on top of us. Okay.
Listen, that is corruption. I don’t care if it’s illegal. It’s not right.
Quoting again from the Times: “‘[Boehner] likes to bring similarly minded people together to try to advance legislation or oppose it,’ said Drew Mahoney, a lobbyist at Ogilvy Government Relations. That is how you get things done.'”
See? Lobbyists are par for the course. Status quo, if you will. It’s not a big deal, really.