The Swamp Cannot Be Drained

What exactly is lobbying?

The purest form of the term simply points to someone voicing his or her concerns in the hopes of affecting some change in government policy. In principle, it can appear to be a noble course of action — a citizen speaking out for public interest is inherently democratic in nature. Today, however, lobbying takes on a decidedly more sinister sheen.

Popular television — see: House of Cards and Scandal, amongst others — tends to cast lobbyists as overpaid, designer suit-wearing villains working for powerful corporations and special interests to advance their own interests. This is not always true — “worthy” causes such as environmental protection and labour rights also attract their own lobbyists. Yet, these instances prove by far the exception rather than the rule.

How big is the lobbying phenomenon?

Why is this a problem?

Lobbyists do much of Congressional policy thinking

The “revolving door”

This is the revolving door in its full glory. Because Congressional members are so aware that they can “cash out” upon leaving the institution, they are motivated (through lobbyists) to think about their exit opportunities into the very industries they are duty-bound to regulate.

Clearly, there is a conflict of interest — a politician essentially bears in mind his own personal interests when dealing with public policy because he or she has the opportunity to take up a more lucrative private sector job in the relevant industry after government service. This effectively means that they do not always have their constituents’ best interests at heart.

Can lobbying be stopped?

(i) to stop political bribery by overhauling lobbying and ethics laws;

(ii) end secret money by dramatically increasing transparency;

(iii) give every voter a voice by creating citizen-funded elections.

Increasing Congressional Funding

As previously argued, a primary issue plaguing the current system is the discrepancy between the monetary compensation for Congressional members and their lobbyist counterparts.

Hard Cooling-off Period

At the very least, lobbying firms should be subject to far more stringent transparency rules. Any arrangement, financial or otherwise, between a former government official and the firm within the cooling off period should be disclosed at the risk of sanction. While this will not stop corporations and their lobbying firms pumping money into Congressional members’ fundraising war chests, it will at least slow the pipeline of former members taking up cushier roles in lobbying immediately following the end of their time in office.

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