LOBBYISTS 2

Perversion at its lowest

LOBBYISTS 2

Perversion at its Lowest

By

Fay E.A. Reid

This is an updated and edited version of a previous post.

On this Labor Day I’ve been thinking of the vilest, most disgusting job a person could have. No, it is not cleaning our porta potties, or septic tanks, nor dog catchers.  The most shameful employment I can think of is lobbying. The term derived from the 19^th century habit of these vultures, flocking to the lobbies of hotels near the Nation’s Capital to catch legislator’s away from the Congressional Building to peddle their bribes and schemes.  Today these lobbyists don’t have to lurk in hotel lobbies, they meet in the legislative offices.

They don’t just exist in Washington, DC. You’ll find them in every one of the 50 States Capitols nationwide. From Albany, New York to Tallahassee, Florida, the bloodsuckers await their prey.

They are the most useless group of people in the Country. What do they provide? Anti- citizen policies that favor ultra wealthy Corporate America to the detriment of the Country and at least 90% of its citizenry. Who do they benefit? Unscrupulous politicians who ran for office only to aggrandize and enrich themselves. Who do they harm? You, me, and at least 300 million others, some of whom are admittedly half-wits.

Corporations laugh all the way to the bank. These lobbyists, who really benefit only the CEO, CFO, Board of Directors, and shareholders, are tax deductible (how’s that for a laugh). The lobbyists job is to wine, dine, and bribe the politicians WE elected. Convincing them how advantageous it will be to themselves, their political party, and yes even their family and close friends. What’s more, thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council, commonly known as ALEC; the politicians don’t even have to write the legislation, the lobbyists have already done it for them.

Wikipedia gives this definition of Lobbying: “The history of lobbying in the United States is a chronicle of the rise of paid advocacy generally by special interests seeking favor in lawmaking bodies such as the United States Congress. Lobbying has usually been understood as activity by paid professionals to try to influence key legislators and executives, which is different from the right for an individual to petition the government. It has been around since the early days of the Republic, and affects every level of government from local municipal authorities to the federal government in Washington. In the nineteenth century, lobbying was mostly conducted at the state level, but in the twentieth century, there has been a marked rise in activity, particularly at the federal level in the past thirty years. While lobbying has generally been marked by controversy, there have been numerous court rulings protecting lobbying as free speech. At the same time, the courts have made no final ruling on whether the petition clause of the US Constitution covers lobbying.” [“Lobbying and the petition clause” Stanford Law Review]

The joke in the previous paragraph is “there have numerous court rulings protecting lobbying as free speech” Lobbying is the antithesis of “free speech”.  The lobbyists dump Billions of dollars on politicians in order to be heard. The corporations and organizations pay millions in salary and bonuses to the lobbyists. How is this different from actors who are paid to perform in theaters and for which we pay to hear, These are taxed. The producers, directors, actors, stage hands etc. are taxed. Why then should corporations not pay taxes on the very successful actors (lobbyists) they hire to bribe politicians.

ALEC has refined this to an art form in those less populated States they Control. I believe they claim 35 of them. In these States, lobbyists, write the legislation and even the speeches made by the politicians in support of the legislation which is usually costly to the citizens of the State, but which is excused because “it brings in (or saves, take your pick) JOBS” Which, of course it does neither. But the gullible population are working so hard to survive they just eat up every word and tell all their neighbors, what a great guy Mr. (or Ms.) Politician is to do all this for them. And their menial bare existence is all the fault of those lying Dems and the criminal immigrants and lazy dark folks who are taking all these newly sprung jobs from them. It couldn’t possibly be the fault of that great Mr. Big Shot sending all his products to be assembled in the far east. It's easier to blame someone you don’t see, but dislike because your folks dislike them, than to blame that nice looking young politician.

Why don’t we hear about this on mainstream media (or even Faux non-News)? Why would they talk about it on the air when they are raking in a large percentage of those billion-dollar bribes in the form of advertising. Greed Wins!

In fairness, it is not just corporate and wealthy Americans that employ lobbyists. Now any large association including unions, teachers, physicians, nurses, school boards, minority person associations, also have lobbyists attempting to protect their people from the ravages of the top 10% (wealthiest). But at least those of us in the 90% of losers, uh, real citizens, have a smidgeon of representation.  Without these lobbies we’d be at the mercy of the majority of legislators owned by the corporation lobbyists.

So, what is the purpose of this rant? I don’t really advocate killing all lobbyists, but they can, and should be, regulated. First the Corporations should not be able to deduct the cost of lobbying from their State or Federal taxes. Lobbying is not like advertising where you are attempting to sell your product or service. Advertising is a legitimate part of running a business. Lobbying is bribing legislators to initiate and pass laws to illegally allow Company top execs to keep more of their ill-gotten gains, produce obviously defective products, to merge to the detriment of an industry in favor of a few oligarchs, to deregulate business so those oligarchs can keep even more of their money and to reduce the tax rate to the extent that Donald Trump can pay $750 in Federal tax in the same year I paid $24,000 on a gross income of $180,000.

Lobbyists also protect apartment, hotel, and rental owners from lawsuits from disgruntled tenants. Protect businesses who provide services to the elderly and disabled from having to actually supply those services.

What do I want:

1) The cost of lobbying to be non-deductible from Federal and State income taxes for any Corporation, Organization, or business.

2) Lobbyists have to file how much money, goods, entertainment, was given to each and every Judge, Justice system, politician, PAC, Political Party, etc.

3) To declare under penalty of perjury on whose behalf such funds were dispensed.

4) For every politician, Political Action Committee (PAC), family member, cohort, Judge or Justice to declare from whom every penny they received over $100 came.

As Adam Smith declared in “The Wealth of Nations” A “well regulated” capitalistic system is the best and most efficient form for an economy. PS if you haven’t already read in school, this is an excellent book, even if it was published in 1776.