Lobbying has been used from time immemorial in all societies from earliest human civilizations in some form or another. It is a direct result of a pre-democracy governance where there is a ruler or king who rules over the rest of the population and has unlimited “power or authority” over matters that affect the populace. Due to this, there has always been a human desire by the “lobbyist” to help by influencing the person in authority to change the normal course of action using their social connections. The lobbyist was either driven by an emotional appeal, monetary gain or other reward. For example, the mistress of a king or monarch may lobby him to exonerate her brother who has been found guilty of a crime by a court of people.
In modern times, lobbying has become a necessary evil. Merriam Webster dictionary describes the act of lobbying is: to try to influence government officials to make decisions for or against something; or try to get something you want by talking to the people who make decisions. Lobbying is in some ways is seen as bribing, a corrupt practice. Paid lobbying is big business wherein the lobbying firm employs several lobbyists on their payroll to accomplish outcomes that are “for or against” certain actions “already taken or yet to be taken” by government officials involved that “has had” or “would have” enormous implications on the present or future of the businesses for their clients. To buy influence, the clients are willing to pay the enormous fees which could range anywhere from a few thousands to several million dollars. Congress has tried to regulate this activity for many years. It culminated in passage of lobbying disclosure act (LDA) into law on December 19, 1995. Several amendments have been made since and continue to this day – https://lobbyingdisclosure.house.gov/
There are different kinds of lobbying viz., shadow lobbying, grassroots lobbying, revolving door lobbying. (Reference https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R44292.html) Shadow lobbying is when the person lobbying does not register as a lobbyist but uses their connection to a congressman or a government official to change the outcome in a situation. A common example is a mayor influencing the local judge to waive or lower the fees for a traffic violation by his relative. Grass roots lobbying is a kind of collective lobbying, i.e., organizing people through, for example, a signature campaign to lobby for or against an issue. A recent example is the Keystone XL Pipeline Project that was started in 2008 and finally abandoned in 2021 – https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-keystone-pipeline/ Grassroots lobbying is regulated and requires to be registered under the law. The third type viz., revolving door lobbying, is when former government officials are on the payroll of businesses for which they now lobby using their connections within the government or a former lobbyist becomes a government official.
Unfortunately, no matter what legislation you pass to regulate lobbying, there seems to be no way to control access of professional lobbyists and special interests to government. The rights of individual ordinary Americans to petition members of congress and executive branch decision makers will always be severely undermined or “out-lobbied”. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves – What “we the people” can do collectively to make sure (I) lobbying is transparent and, (II) the monies paid for lobbying is somehow traceable to benefit us all together and not just a few. That is, how could we use democratic socio capitalism (DSC) in lobbying. Some food for thought below.
The passage of the LDA into law itself means lobbying is legal under the law. However, “we the people” need to know: who is lobbying whom; for what purpose; who is the ultimate beneficiary and; how much amount was paid. Congress will never enact such a change since it is against their own interests. Therefore, through a national referendum, “we the people” need make a change to the law that says lobbying is legal only if the lobbyist fills the above information into a national database within 5 business days of the funds being sent. Otherwise, if the lobbyist does not comply, they will be prosecuted with fines, prison time, or both. For a congressman being lobbied, they have to declare that they have received lobbying funds within 5 business days after receiving the funds. If not, they will be subject to fines or be suspended from congress and be disqualified from ever holding an office again. Further, the lobby monies received by a member of congress during their term will be accounted for in detail and publicly disclosed one month prior to their next election, if they choose to contest.
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