2-13-2004 Average citizens need our own lobby
We now know that presidential candidate John Kerry has accepted more money from lobbyists than any other candidate, more than $600,000. He is not alone.
Most Americans think we have a bicameral federal legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Actually, we have a tricameral legislature. The third house is made up of unelected lobbyists. An argument can be made that it is the most powerful of the three.
The term arose from the use of lobbies, or corridors, of legislative halls as places where legislators on their way to vote could be button-holed and persuaded to vote a certain way.
Washington watchers estimate that there are thousands of lobbyists, far outnumbering legislators. (The drug industry alone has 625 lobbyists.)
There are thousands more "agents of influence" touting every interest from cock-fighting to olive packers. In addition there is a multitude of foreign agents holding out the rice bowl for every spot on Earth, from Angmagssalik to Zonguldak.
The job of all of these lobbyists is to obtain special privileges or money for the people and organizations that employ them, usually at the expense of taxpayers.
Lobbying in general is not all bad. Lobbyists provide technical data, testify before congressional hearings, provide legislators with valuable firsthand informa- tion and help draft potential legislation. All upheld by the First Amendment.
The problem is that all too often the main persuasive force is money, as we have seen in recent cases. In just the first six months of last year, Washington lobbyists spent $702.8 million (that we know about) to influence politicians. It's probably safe to say that not all of it was spent legitimately.
Whether money is donated to a campaign war chest, slipped under the table, or in the form of cash, favors, travel, gifts or jobs for relatives, bribery is the only word that accurately describes what most lobbying has evolved into.
Politicians and other holders of public power spend a lot of time huddling with lobbyists or dealing with an army of professional supplicants jamming their outer offices waving petitions and clamoring for attention. The result is that our representatives hardly have time for the voters who elected them.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. My solution for the vast number of middle-class taxpayers left out of the equation is to form our own lobby. We could call it "The American Lobby."
If only a small percentage of the great silent majority would join and pay a small fee, such an organization would be richer than the milk lobby, even the teachers' union. With such clout, we could hire the most influential lobbyists in Washington; Henry Kissinger maybe, or even Jesse Jackson.
The American Lobby could then instruct its lobbyists to bribe our representatives to lower taxes, reduce the size of government, return to a free-enterprise economic system, defend our borders from immigrant invasion and restore Constitutional government by rule of law. It's an idea whose time has come.
Jack Chesney is a resident of Sautee- Nacoochee.
We now know that presidential candidate John Kerry has accepted more money from lobbyists than any other candidate, more than $600,000. He is not alone.
Most Americans think we have a bicameral federal legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Actually, we have a tricameral legislature. The third house is made up of unelected lobbyists. An argument can be made that it is the most powerful of the three.
The term arose from the use of lobbies, or corridors, of legislative halls as places where legislators on their way to vote could be button-holed and persuaded to vote a certain way.
Washington watchers estimate that there are thousands of lobbyists, far outnumbering legislators. (The drug industry alone has 625 lobbyists.)
There are thousands more "agents of influence" touting every interest from cock-fighting to olive packers. In addition there is a multitude of foreign agents holding out the rice bowl for every spot on Earth, from Angmagssalik to Zonguldak.
The job of all of these lobbyists is to obtain special privileges or money for the people and organizations that employ them, usually at the expense of taxpayers.
Lobbying in general is not all bad. Lobbyists provide technical data, testify before congressional hearings, provide legislators with valuable firsthand informa- tion and help draft potential legislation. All upheld by the First Amendment.
The problem is that all too often the main persuasive force is money, as we have seen in recent cases. In just the first six months of last year, Washington lobbyists spent $702.8 million (that we know about) to influence politicians. It's probably safe to say that not all of it was spent legitimately.
Whether money is donated to a campaign war chest, slipped under the table, or in the form of cash, favors, travel, gifts or jobs for relatives, bribery is the only word that accurately describes what most lobbying has evolved into.
Politicians and other holders of public power spend a lot of time huddling with lobbyists or dealing with an army of professional supplicants jamming their outer offices waving petitions and clamoring for attention. The result is that our representatives hardly have time for the voters who elected them.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. My solution for the vast number of middle-class taxpayers left out of the equation is to form our own lobby. We could call it "The American Lobby."
If only a small percentage of the great silent majority would join and pay a small fee, such an organization would be richer than the milk lobby, even the teachers' union. With such clout, we could hire the most influential lobbyists in Washington; Henry Kissinger maybe, or even Jesse Jackson.
The American Lobby could then instruct its lobbyists to bribe our representatives to lower taxes, reduce the size of government, return to a free-enterprise economic system, defend our borders from immigrant invasion and restore Constitutional government by rule of law. It's an idea whose time has come.
Jack Chesney is a resident of Sautee- Nacoochee.