When you think about it, it is no surprise that legislators are both patronizing and condescending with respect to their constituents. The preconditions were in place long ago for the legislative process to morph into supportive policies and operations for special interests. Letters of response from legislators to their constituents are nonspecific because they know they can get away with it. How burdensome it would be to take seriously the positions, needs and suggestions of countless constituents.
A new battleground has been allowed to develop, centered in the legislative bodies of the Federal Government and the individual states. But constituents are virtually without weapons in countering activities of lobbyists and their clients - so the moneyed interests are winning. In real life we find constituents’ cries competing with the warm, person-to-person pressures of a lobbying crowd that has been allowed to grow to where the government can no longer be called representative, but rather coerced and manipulated. The condition is exacerbated by the legislator’s immediate concern, once in office, with how to get reelected, and how to raise the necessary money.
A lobbyist has the benefit of personal access. But that personal access is anything but a brief greeting in a Senate hallway. The lobbying business has developed into a fine art. Introduction of a lobbyist representing, say, Archer Daniels or Exxon to a new legislator is the beginning of an elaborate, solidly choreographed dance, steeped in nuances and tacit understandings. Lobbyists seek development of a partnership. They make friends of legislators. They never talk of money - just the problems and concerns of the special interests and what might be done to fix them. Besides that, a little stroking, never forgetting that stroking in its manifold forms is the mother’s milk for ego-driven politicians. Then, in the future, if legislation turns their way, it is understood that money for reelection will flow. No one would be so crude as to ever mention a payoff.
Corruption of a representative government is in full swing, and that is the main reason why organizations like Americans Elect are created and are growing.
What is astonishing, and yet should be no surprise, is the proliferation of schools around the nation whose sole objective is to train lobbyists for “lucrative jobs.” The seriousness of these courses can be gleaned from the content of “Lobbying Seminars” sponsored by Capitol Services located in downtown Sacramento a few blocks from California’s Capitol:
Lobbying 101
The introductory course covers the fundamentals including a review of all relevant resource materials. The qualities of a good “legislative advocate:” the rules of advocacy; the language; culture and mores of legislators; the dos and don’ts of testifying; how to find the right author of legislation; client relations and much more.
Lobbying 201
The advanced course is for graduates of Lobbying 101 or for people with a significant amount of lobbying experience. This seminar builds on principles taught in the introductory course and also focuses on budget advocacy, lobbying the administration, regulatory advocacy and media strategies.
So with this on-going perversion of the Founders best intents, and about which they voiced some concern regarding success, it should not be a surprise to witness appearance of organizations like AmericansElect that are committed to righting what has developed into a bad turn for our chosen form of government. As a passive but interested member, I am strongly advising against putting up a presidential candidate. That is not the center of the problem, and past experience with third party candidates can easily result in the lesser desirable contender gaining the presidency. President Obama has done quite well considering that he has been knee-capped by the opposition at almost every turn during his entire term of office. The problem lies in the evolved functional intransigence of the two party system. Were AmericansElect to concentrate on adjusting that situation by mainlining candidates so a third of the legislators would be independents, we would then see some changes.
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