Politicians and Lobbyists

I read a good piece on Politico on the current status of Washington lobbyists. I added a comment to the ensuing discussion. Here is the article:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18327.html

And below is my comment:

“Don’t worry. The lobbyists will be back in favor in a little while. Money and politicians are like 2 magnets that attract each other. As long as we have a majority of our politicians that are willing to take bribes, sorry I meant to say campaign contributions, from the big money guys nothing will change. Congress can write more and more regulations but the loopholes they insert are the killers. And even if they do write watertight laws who will watch the watchers. You see, someone has to enforce the laws and white collar criminals need to get something more than a slap on the wrist. But don’t hold your breath. Will our elected officials bite the hand that feeds them? I think the answer is self evident.

The real problem, and we don’t want to admit it, is that our government is a reflection of ourselves, our society. We are the ones that pull the voting levers for these people and keep electing them year after year. If they are corrupt, and I believe many are, we are telling them that what they are doing to us is okay! What does that say about us as an electorate? Maybe our elected officials really do represent us in ways we haven’t thought about.

Two sayings to ponder over:

Teddy Roosevelt said, “when they call the roll in the Senate half answer ‘present’ and the other half answer ‘not guilty’.”

Otto von Bismark said, “a people get the government they deserve.”

Those two sayings are linked these days in ways we, as a society, don’t really want to understand.

This isn’t going to change until the vast majority of the members of Congress are voted out of office. And I mean members of both parties. But I sure am not holding my breath.

Atlas needs to shrug.”