Once upon a time (back around when Cinderella lost her slipper) a "lobby" was no more than the public area of a hotel. How things have changed! I couldn't help but be struck today, in my morning review of the Washington Post - which of course is published in the lobbying capital of the United States, or possibly of the world - at the pervasiveness of lobbies in our political system and in our lives.
Exhibit A - The biggest buzz today is over one Charles ("Chas") Freeman, who withdrew himself from consideration as Chair of the National Intelligence Council, blaming pro-Israel lobbyists for his decision and claiming they have too much influence. (Incidentally, the huge firestorm of opinion articles on this, hastening to deny that lobbyists should be blamed, or claiming that Freeman really wasn't qualified, tend to convince me that he's right.)
Exhibit B - On the subject of Congressional earmarks in the government funding bill, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is reported to have said, "they're completely out of hand, completely out of control. Most of them are driven by lobbyists."
Exhibit C - In an excellent column on the issue of representation in Congress for the District of Columbia, Marc Fisher observes the effects of the cynical lobbying of the National Rifle Association.
Exhibit D - Because this is Washington, lobbying often shows up as ads by trade groups with axes to grind (or drill bits to sharpen). Today, we have a full page ad by those "people" of America's oil and natural gas industry, forecasting economic ruin for the whole country if the oil companies' taxes are increased. I can't give you a link to the ad, but you can find much more of this material on the website of the American Petroleum Institute, www.energytomorrow.org. (".org?" you ask? Yes. Go figure.)
Exhibit E - Again because this is Washington, items on the op/ed page can often be carefully crafted attempts to influence not just public opinion, but Congressional opinion. Remember back in Cinderella's day when lobbies were in hotels? Let's close with an opinion from J.W. Marriott, Jr., of none other than the Marriott Corporation, pointing out that the country needs more conferences held in hotels.
Not to suggest that lobbying is necessarily a bad thing. Many political analysts, legislators, businessmen, (and lobbyists!) say that interest groups and organizations have a perfect right to represent their views to the public and to Congress and that our democracy depends on the give-and-take of various special interests with differing views on the issues. For more info in this line, visit the website of the American League of Lobbyists (ALL), www.alldc.org. There, you can see U.S. flags waving, a defense of lobbying, and a code of ethics (but not the name "Jack Abramoff").
I wouldn't quibble with the concept that lobbying may have its good side, but as in any other profession, especially any that gather around the public trough, excesses are wont to occur. Lobbying has become a big business with lots of money involved. The real problem is when those who supposedly represent the interests of the people broadly (that would be Congress, for example) are diverted from that focus by the lure of too many lobbyist dollars, or the heavy but meaningless public letter-writing that some organizations can gin up. My intuition and common sense tell me that when we see this much evidence of lobbyists plying their trade in one day's news, we very well may be in a period when excesses need some trimming.
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