On Fri, Jul 02, 2004 at 08:53:42AM -0400, Robert Foxworth wrote:
> Forwarded from the Broadcast list
>
>
> > www.washingtonpost.com
> > Monday, June 28, 2004, page E1
> >
> >
> > K STREET CONFIDENTIAL
> > Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
> >
> > Lawmakers, Lobbyists Keep in Constant Contact
> >
Have a care. Some of those lobbyists may well represent _your_
interests. I'm a member of the National Federation of Independent
Businesses (NFIB). It's a lobbying group that works toward the best
interests of small businesses, which are the heart and soul of American
commerce. And for those of you who are not irrational on the subject of
guns, the NRA has done an excellent job protecting both the second and
first amendments on behalf of an awful lot of people who aren't even
members. And when IBM makes billions on Linux and lobbies congress, you
think they _don't_ lobby for legislation that protects their investment
in Open Source?
Lobbying groups are always painted as evil members of a cabal which only
represent the interests of those Big Bad Corporations, which of course
only want things that are bad for you. Nice try, but there are a lot of
lobbyists who work for something other than MegaCorp. And in fact, while
you can write letters can call your congressmen, these people obviously
have a more direct line.
Also note that congressmen, many of whom are incredibly wealthy and
spent most of their adult lives before congress in courtrooms, have very
little idea what really goes on in the real world. Their friends are all
either congressmen, movie stars or other rich elites. Anything that
acquaints them with something other than the rarified air of DC could be
a good thing.
And recall the source of this news item-- the Washington Post. Along
with the New York Times and the Boston Globe, one of the most liberal
papers in the country. The liberal slant is always against big business,
and can be counted on to paint people like lobbyists in a singularly
unsympathetic light. I'm not saying all lobbyists are good. Only that
one should consider the source and think first before swallowing whole
what the news media feed you. It's almost never as
simple/complex/good/bad as they paint it.
Paul
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