"Can you explain to me why we need lobbyists?" said a co-worker the other day over lunch.
I have been constructing further thoughts around my response that day "Go read your constitution".
So, what exactly did I mean by that. Looking up the 1st Amendment, here is the relevant passage:
"...or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Many would take umbrage to this expansive use of 1st Amendment in support of lobbyists. No, I don't either.
How exactly do you petition your Government? It is not what it used to be. Back at the creation, the Federal government only had enumerated powers. All others were vested in the various State governments and further delegated to your local government at the town and county level. It is a whole lot easier to petition your local government.
Today, how exactly do you petition your Federal government?
Well, we elect them don't we? Yes, we do. Electing our House of Representatives is still the closest to our 'will'. And recent election cycles have confirmed that - it is still dynamic. As geographically diverse as our nation is, each of our reps is able to tackle a few issues of local interest into the deliberations of the federal government. As they deliberate more, they have far less chance of meeting with their constituents. Technology may yet change this dynamic. Not sure Twitter alone can solve this problem.
And now let's focus on ourselves. In our lives, we have competing priorities. And most of us struggle to balance those. There are priorities of the heart and the priorities of reality. Which ones do you want your representative attend to. Do we always know what is good for us? (Few amongst us care about and active about only the priorities of the heart. Most of us cannot afford to do that.)
Even if we want to lobby for our causes or priorities, we have limited opportunities to do that. Ultimately, we have to get on with our lives. The act of lobbying in itself is not our daily life. it is someone else's.
"Lobbyist"
ORIGIN mid-16th century
The verb sense derives from the practice of frequenting the lobby of a house of legislature to influence its members into supporting a cause.
The best interest is self-interest. There is no altruistic motive in our existence. We express our self-interest when we vote; only that our choice is limited to available candidates representing a basket of those interests. To influence your 'best possible candidate' to weigh-in a legislation of your interest, you have to lobby. I bet there were lobbyists even in the days of the Caesars.
Now a days, every cause has a lobbyist. (Media tells us and) most of us think lobbying is done by big corporations. Biggest, monolithic lobbyist is in fact the AARP. Followed by the AFP and other trade unions. In fact, all corporations face expense pressure to reduce all expenses, including their lobbying expenses.
What is that corporations need to lobby? Well, tax laws, environment laws, etc. Every single one of these laws have a direct impact on a company's profitability. And by extension its ability to hire or keep its employees. Yes, ultimately it affects us.
More often than not, majority tend to display an animosity towards their employer. When media tells us that the big, faceless corporation is lobbying, we agree - they must be working against us.
It is funny, that majority don't object if United Auto Workers lobby or if the Spotted Owl Society lobbies. It is just the big corporations that we loath. And the last time I checked, an awful lot of people work for these big corporations. (Our hatred towards the employer we so depend on to make ends meet - that's just another topic for a different day).
I don't think a common man has any net gain from the lobbying activities. Since every one gains something, it costs us the tax payers an awful lot of money to satisfy all these lobbyist and the interests they support. And that is a net negative.
Lobbying excesses have to be punished by law. We have seen great example of that - Jack Abramoff. And many others.
However, we have to be cautious about restrictions on lobbying. It is about really the only way you can lobby your government for redress of your grievances. Eliminate that, we would loose a great deal.
Most of us don't know what it is to not have the freedom of speech. Most of the world is only now getting its liberties.
You have to zealously protect freedom of speech even if it requires us to tolerate lobbying.
