It was reported awhile back that spending by interest groups in the last congressional election was five times what it was for the previous election. Nearly $100 million was spent by lobbyists and interest groups in 2010. The next election will likely cost even more. Government is bigger now than it was then. It also
controls more than it did then. For the many who associate interest group
spending with corruption, the increase in spending is blamed on the ruling by the Supreme Court that freed groups from campaign
financing rules that had greatly crimped funding by large groups such as
business, manufacturers, and medical associations. Additionally, the
ruling removed the requirement that campaign donors be identified.
Predictably, the left is in an uproar since they often are at a
disadvantage when it comes to raising money from large, well
funded sources. But they really have no one to blame but themselves.
Over
the course of the last century, Washington has become the center of the
economic and political universe largely due to the efforts of the left.
Over the last half decade the federal government has been steadily encroaching upon the personal aspects of American's lives. Because of that, decisions made in Washington affect every American in ways unimagined by the Founders. From
agriculture and education to manufacturing and finance, from the bedroom to the workplace, there is very
little that is not under federal purview. Because of this, very few
people, institutions, and businesses can afford to be indifferent to
what goes on in Washington. Decisions made there can affect not just
factories and businesses, but whole industries and communities. It
should not be surprising that many people and groups are not content to
simply read about legislation in the newspaper.
Washington has
also become the center of the social universe. Marriage and child
rearing, for example, have become matters of federal concern thanks to
the left. What your children eat or don't eat, read or don't read, think or don't think, are
no longer issues of concern only to parents. They are public issues.
Because they are public issues, they are political issues.
It is
the left that works so diligently to find the political aspect of
everything in a manner that would impress communists and Jesuits. Once
that aspect is located, it is to be manipulated in a manner suitable to
their sensibilities. What the left didn't, and still doesn't, understand
is that they do not have a monopoly on government manipulation. The
tools and institutions put in place to achieve the ambitions of the left
do not belong to them. They belong to whomever happens to be in office.
It is naive of the left to believe that their opponents will never be
in charge of the programs and institutions they have worked so hard to
create. It is the right that is being naive if they believe that once
they are in charge, they will stay in charge.
One of the chief
consequences of the federal behemoth created by the left is the struggle
for its control. The greater the stakes, the greater the struggle. The
greater the struggle, the more money it will cost. If the left is at a
disadvantage it is their own fault. They are the ones who raised the
stakes by expanding federal government.
The vast amount of money
that is being spent, and will be spent, on elections should not be
blamed on selfishness or avarice on the part of interest groups and
their constituents. Interest groups and, by extension their
constituents, are simply trying to influence an institution that has
come to have a great deal of power over how and under what conditions
they can operate. It is all but impossible to go about one's affairs and
be indifferent to what is going on in Washington. Whether one is a
farmer, an auto worker, a lawyer or a doctor, what goes on in Washington
can significantly affect one's life and livelihood. Some might be
content to go the the polls every other year and cast a vote and cross
their fingers. Those who aren't should not be blamed or criticized for
looking out for their own interests.
Ambitious government is a bonanza for lobbyists.
So much money is involved and so many issues, industries and people are
affected by broad laws such as the recent National Health Care Act that Washington attracts lobbyists like a dead possum
attracts flies. Countless people want something out of Washington.
Countless more will want to avoid something in Washington. Everyone seeks to
find some advantage in Washington. All of them spend great deals of money
to see that their interests are tended to. If politicians in Washington wanted to find a
better way to increase campaign donations and guarantee job security for
lobbyists than passing gargantuan legislation like the recent health care and
financial bail out acts, they would be hard pressed.
Lobbyists
and interest groups are not to blame for the financial circus that
surrounds elections. Whenever an election touches on a major issue or
portends change, those who might be affected mobilize. Washington is the
problem. Washington is the Mount Everest of politics. Lobbyists and
interest groups are simply Sherpas hired to help people to the top.
