SMD: The L Word
Submitted by southernmaledemocrat on Fri, 08/01/2008 - 1:17pm
This column is a re-run of one I wrote on my blog months ago. I wanted to set the stage for the second part, just written today. So, without further delay.....
Today, there is more tolerance in our society than ever before. There’s a long way to go, but we have made tremendous strides in accepting those who are different. I envision a time when anyone can live their life openly, as the person they were meant to be, with the same full rights as everyone else.
It is with that spirit in mind, that I have decided to make a disclosure to readers of The Southern Male Democrat. I am ready to step into the light and let the world know the real me.
I am a lobbyist.
It’s true, and though our national politicians seem to imply I should feel otherwise, I am proud of it.
Railing against the lobbyists is nothing new. A decade ago John Edwards rode the anti-lobbyist message to the US Senate. This season’s presidential debates in both parties have turned into contests to see who can best “fight the lobbyists”. To be honest, this grandstanding occurs much more often on the Democratic side than on the Republican side. It’s all hypocrisy because politicians meet with, and frankly rely on, lobbyists every day. There is NO politician, at any level, who doesn’t confer with lobbyists on a regular basis. Those relationships are what make our political system run. I love my job because I’ve got great personal relationships throughout local, state and federal government.
At its core, blaming lobbyists and acting as if lobbyists are the root of our problems is intellectually dishonest. What’s even more pathetic is that the average voter falls for it. The truth is that lobbyists are not just old, balding guys carrying around sacks of money on behalf of Big Business. There are lobbyists for literally every industry in the US. There are lobbyists for sports and hobbies. There are lobbyists for organizations such as the Children’s Defense Fund and the AARP.
Every American has someone lobbying on their behalf for some issue or another. If you are a realtor over the age of 55 and a member of the National Rifle Association, you’ve got three lobbyists working on your behalf right there.
The problem is not the multitude of lobbyists representing every cause in our society. The problem is the money. If someone wants to run for even a local city council seat, it costs tens of thousands of dollars. And the vast majority of that money comes from political action committees that are funded by interest groups. As a result, it becomes harder and harder for elected officials to ever look to the larger public interest, and think of any sort of shared sacrifice on a given issue. They can’t afford for a stream of interest money to dry up because then it’s hard to run a viable, professional campaign.
I’ll be honest, though I think the answer lies in public financing, I don’t have a clue how to implement it. We can’t just give anyone who wants to run for anything taxpayer money, we have to draw a line somewhere.
But before we can agree on the solution, we have to agree on what the problem is. Despite all the grandstanding, lobbyists are not the problem.
Here's today's second part -
http://southernmaledemocrat.com/2008/08/01/the-l-word-revisited/
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You dirty rotten scoundrel
Just kidding ... and thanks for outing yourself.
Lobbyists are not the problem, and the rights of individuals to advocate for themselves and others in the halls of Congress or the Legislature should be protected.
You correctly note, however, that the problem is money.
I personally don't think "little money" matters. I've given much money to many candidates over the years and I can assure you, they don't listen to me for a split second longer than they do any person who walks in off the street. This is how it should be.
Big money is different.
Unfortunately, the courts and Congress have interpreted the first amendment to mean "money equals speech" - which has led us into a situation where our elected officials are essentially dependent on the contributions of large organizations, companies, advocacy groups, etc., for funding their campaigns.
I do not believe that everything in our democracy should go to the highest bidder, as the free market extremists and Libertarians do, but that puts me out of step with where our sad country is going these days.
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Jesus Swept, this December
Deleted
Because I'm stupid and not very funny today.
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Jesus Swept, this December
I have a couple of questions,
and I really don't want you to feel like I'm trying to Gitmo-waterboard you, but...
a) what type of business are you paid to advocate for, and
b) what percentage (if any) of your prior blogs were somehow work-related?
He lobbies for unions
I invited him here to write about labor/union issues since we didn't really have much conversation going in that area. I don't recall his BlueNC posts being work-related, but I don't know about his own site.
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Robin Hayes lied, Robin Hayes cried and thousands of folks lost th
You'll pardon my not wanting
You'll pardon my not wanting to list my clients on here, nor to give out personal information on the internet. Many people know who SMD is, and that's fine, but I don't want to be so up front about it. I will say that my clients are solidly, most decidely, "left of center."
The only relation between my blog postings either here, or on my site is that the topics are political in nature, as is my work. But I typically don't directly take up the causes of my clients in my blogging. If you look over my site, you'll see that I blog about all sorts of non-political stuff too.
So no, I don't use my blog for my lobbying efforts, but to just have some fun writing about my passion - politics.
http://southernmaledemocrat.com
Thanks. :)
I've read your stuff (here and elsewhere) from time to time, and the fact that I didn't already know who your clients were (are) is a fairly good indicator that this:
is the case.
Frankly, I'm really new to the whole politics scene. I mean, I've been interested in both domestic and foreign policy stuff for years, but trying to understand the actual machinations of election campaigns, as well as relations between candidates/public servants and private advocacy groups is a lot more complex than I ever thought it would be.
I think one of the main reasons I began blogging is to try to change minds, or at least get people to think a few steps farther before arriving at a conclusion. Which is probably the same thing that most lobbyists try to do, except they're smart enough to get paid for it. ;/