CloudStrife
Why so serious?
Why isn't this illegal or at least grounds for removal from office?
http://oklahoma.sleekcom.com/blog/?p=55
http://oklahoma.sleekcom.com/blog/?p=55
Lobbying or Bribing
November 15, 2008 in General
I don’t think any of us realized at what point we lost control of our government. Somewhere the process has gotten so twisted that now instead of “Government by the People for the People” it has become government by the lobbyist. In order to understand the influence and power of lobbyist and how issues are put before our politicians we must first understand what a lobbyist is and how they operate. The origin of the term lobbyist or lobbying is vague but the practice has been around for hundreds of years. To lobby or be a lobbyist means that you hang around outside where important people are in an attempt to attract their attention and present your ideas. A simple definition of a lobbyist is to think of a big dog holding a big bone and a bunch of little dogs hanging around him trying to get a nibble. Although the definition of lobbyist can apply to many situations we are going to concentrate on lobbyist in our governmental system. In government lobbying the politician are the big dogs holding the big bone, the government check book, and the lobbyist are the little dogs trying to get at that bone.
One generally accepted method of lobbying comes from England. It is referred to as the gathering of members of Parliament gathering in the hallways and anteroom of The House of Parliament between debates. Of course not only members of Parliament were present but individuals seeking favors, jobs or other tidbits gathered there as well. This practice carried over to the United States and the Halls of Congress where lobbyist would attempt to catch Senators and Representatives between the chamber and their offices. Being of Capitalist mind these lobbyists soon figured out that wealthy individuals and corporations were willing to pay large sums of money for them to represent their points of view or interest to the politicians. Thus an industry was born. If this was the extent of lobbying it might not be such a big deal but unfortunately it goes much further than just a bunch of guys and gals hanging out trying to get a minute or two of a politician’s attention. Lobbying in Washington D.C. is such a big part of the Government now that nearly an entire street, K Street is occupied by lobbyist offices. In our time lobbyist seldom hang around in the anterooms and hallways of Congress. Lobbying today is done on a more direct way using influence and contacts to get to the intended politician directly.
It is very easy for lobbyist to move from lobbying to bribing. There is a very fine line and it is easily crossed. In respect to this lobbying and lobbyist in the U.S. are heavily regulated. There is only one problem with this; the ones making the regulations and imposing them are the very same ones that are being lobbied. Because of the way regulations are written it allows for a broad definition of lobbying vs. bribery. For discussion we will create a hypothetical situation to see just what influence this practice has on us as taxpayers and our elected officials. My company, Widgets, Inc. produces what else, widgets. One day I decide I want to start selling my widgets to the military. Well, after going through many steps of becoming a government contractor and presenting my widget I find that there really is no need for soldiers to have widgets. After all they are widgets and they serve no real purpose for anything. I am persistent though and determined the military is going to buy my widgets. I manage to gather up some money, a pretty significant amount of money and hire myself the lobbying firm of WGTEM, Inc. (We Get To EM). Right up front WGTEM charges me a hefty fee for their services. In addition to the lobbying fee I also put up a significant sum of money for campaign contributions and other perks WGTEM can use to accomplish my goal of selling widgets to the military. It just happens that WGTEM has ole Joe working for them that is friends and has contacts with Senator Cheatem who is on the defense appropriations committee. After I pay my fee to WGETM ole Joe calls up his friend Senator Cheatem and invites him for a round of golf. There is nothing wrong with two old friends having a round of golf together. As a matter of fact ole Joe used to be a Senator and colleague of Mr. Cheatem so they have a long history together. Now, here is the first problem; the round of golf is at a posh exclusive country club and last for an entire weekend. Of course Widgets, Inc. picks up the tab for ole Joe who just happens to have his old friend Cheatem along for the weekend. Between the dancing girls, the five star meals, drinks and endless rounds of golf you don’t have to imagine very hard the conversation is about Widgets, Inc. and how the military needs to buy widgets. In a lot of cases this is all it takes, an ‘uhh weekend of golf with an old buddy Joe. Depending on how in-depth the issue is and how much money is involved sometimes it takes more. It may take large campaign contributions through Widgets, Inc. newly formed PAC (Political Action Committee), an exotic trip in the name of Congressional study, of course financed by the Widget Foundation; the list can go on forever. At any rate ole Joe has convinced Mr. Cheatem that it is to his personal and political advantage for the military to all have widgets.
After the weekend of golf with his old buddy Senator Cheatem returns to Washington and the daily grind of spending the people’s money. Since he sits on the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee he has control of the purse strings for military spending. He calls his ole buddy General Overkill in the Defense Department, who just happens to be in procurement, and tells him about this new gadget that all the military needs called a widget. Overkill tells Cheatem that he has seen these widgets and they are useless to a soldier. Now Senator Cheatem thinks about that hot little blonde from last weekend and how good she danced, especially when she did that thing with the pole and five gallon bucket and he is determined that the military is going to get widgets. He tells Overkill that he should take another look because in order to get funding from the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee on that new big gun he wants he might need to buy some widgets. Of course now Overkill thinks about his position and how his buddy at Big Guns, Inc. won’t get his contract and agrees that maybe widgets would be useful in the field. At this point Senator Cheatem is prepared, if he didn’t convince Overkill for the need of widgets in the military to introduce a bill in the Senate making it law. However, Overkill agrees and immediately issues a no bid contract to Widgets, Inc. purchase a widget for every member of the military along with a lifetime supply to keep in reserve. Over at Widgets, Inc. a widget for the general public comes in a brown box and cost ten cents retail. Because the military is going to use these widgets now I go out and get a bunch of spiffy looking green boxes and a rubber stamp that reads “Military Certified”. I take the ten cent widgets and put them in the green boxes and stamp them with the stamp and the military buys them at one hundred dollars apiece. I have now made so much money on my widgets that I start producing dofarbs. We haven’t found a practical use for dofarbs as of yet, but I have my executive secretary on the phone with WGTEM, Inc.; I am sure there is a dire need in the Department of Transportation for dofarbs.
From the example illustrated here you can see how close lobbying is to bribing; not really much difference. With lobbying one just has to go through a few more steps and polish the turd a bit more to keep it from legally being called a bribe. From a practical standpoint, they are one in the same. As a matter of fact lobbying is so lucrative that Senators have resigned their post to start lobbying firms Trent Lott (R MS) for one. President Elect Barack Obama has supposedly laid down strict directives for his transition staff about being involved in areas they have previously lobbied or lobbyist they are family or associates with. Of course, as I mentioned about polishing a turd, we will see how shinny this one gets. The bottom line of all this is the squeakiest wheel is always the one that gets the grease. Or, in the case of the government, the one with the biggest checkbook is always heard. This is where control of the government has been whisked away from the people and given to the special interest. We, as taxpaying citizens of the U.S., are the biggest group of lobbyist in the world. No Washington firm on K Street has more power. The difference is the lobby firms dedicate their time and attention to getting what they want while we as citizens go through our daily routines oblivious to what is happening with our Government and ultimately our tax dollars. It is time we start to sit up and take notice of what is going on with our Government, from the local level all the way to Washington. No longer can we be complacent in the thought that Government is going to do what is best for us. Government is going to do whatever they can get away with and it is up to us to keep this in check. If you like the rights and freedoms you have now and you like to keep a little of your paycheck each week I urge you to get involved. You have the Internet right in front of you. Use it to follow what your senators, representatives, governors, mayors and yes, even the dog catcher is doing with your rights and money. If you like it let them know; if you don’t let them know early and often. Only YOU can prevent corruption from continuing to take over our rights and freedom!
