Moods and Lobbyists

Right now I am trying to get over the sad feeling that losing my job has given me. Next week will be my last week. Monday will be the last Monday there. My co-workers have all become very dear to me and I will miss them. Some of the people there want to help me find a good job and that's great because I plan to stay in touch with them. I have thought about leaving pranks for the less than qualified individual who will replace me. I have considered writing random things in his calendar to freak him out and placing thumb tacks or gum in strategic locations. Maybe a random bottle of something nasty disguised as ink or maybe I should break all the lead off from every pencil there and bust the pens so that he will get ink stains all over himself. There's all kinds of things I could do if I put my mind to it. But really, I don't care. It's not his fault he stole my job, it's the stupid, corrupt Mayor's fault. Anyway, I'm not meaning to rant. It just kinda hurts, you know. It's hilarious when you stop to think about it. I mean, how many people can say that the Mayor of a city took their job and gave it to a homosexual alcoholic with a criminal background? Not too many, I'd guess. So then, moving on. I am also trying to get over the fact that no one has commented on my blog in freaking two weeks. While I do not live for comments and I write for myself alone, it is sometimes nice to read other people's thoughts and to realize that someone out there does care. Oh well.

Now, I have given some thought to the whole Abramoff scandal. This brings me to another reason as to why I like Mike Pence so much. I watched him being interviewed on C-Span about a week and a half ago. The interviewer had a fetish for talking about the lobbyist scandals and he said something to this effect: "People are very upset about the fact that lobbyists can get the attention of Congresspeople when their own constituents are powerless to have an effect on their opinion." The interviewer further suggested that we put an end to lobbying on Capitol Hill.

Pence shot the guy down in 30 seconds. He pointed out that not every lobbyist is evil. In fact, most are not. He also stated that lobbying groups are more often than not made up of constituents with similar interests who want their voices heard. Pence thinks that one bad lobbyist should not be enough to destroy the entire system. And I agree.

I worked in D.C. for a while and I met a lot of very nice, very concerned lobbyists. Often they were nicer and more down to earth than the staff people who take constituent calls in Congressional offices. That is probably because they are not always stuck in the bubble world of Washington, D.C. where constituents can become annoyances just because they can't read the mind of the person answering the phone. Not that all Congresspeople are horrid, they're not, they tend to have staffers who do not think highly enough of their constituents, however. I digress. The fact is, lobbying is a workable system that does not need to be scrapped because one guy got some bribes in. I think that those who accepted the bribes should be punished as should that lobbyist, he really took advantage of a lot of American Indian tribes. But I digress, on with the rant.

People need to realize that lobbyists are not a bunch of wealthy weirdos who want to screw everyone over. They are frequently groups of concerned citizens who pool their resources and take their common cause to the Federal government for help. While I do not believe that this is what the Founders meant for things to work, I do believe that it could be one of the best systems possible when you consider the way Congress has outsourced their power to agencies. The fact is that someone has to see the laws that do not make sense and point them out or try to change them. Congresspeople do not have time to do that anymore. But lobbyists do have time. Furthermore, who is going to bring people's concerns to the government? Most people are apathetic about government on the whole. Thus, we need someone who is willing to be more energetic in the voicing of opinions. Why not lobbyists?

Really, lobbyists are not a whole bunch of jerks who bribe public officials. One is for sure, and he's getting his comeuppance. So get over it.