"The average American doesn't realize how much of the laws are written by lobbyists" to protect incumbent interests, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Atlantic editor James Bennet at the Washington Ideas Forum. "It's shocking how the system actually works."Video at the link. Much of this is typical CEO shilling for his company, but Schmidt is spot on about how lobbyists write the laws to protect their clients and damage their clients' competitors. This goes beyond "Regulatory Capture" - perhaps we should call it "Statutory Capture"?
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"Washington is an incumbent protection machine," Schmidt said.
I'll take a "wait and see" approach with the coming Republican majority, but my expectations are pretty low. It's not for nothing that they're called the "Stupid Party".
2 comments:
Lobbyists are simply people, people who represent organizations, organizations like unions, groups and corporations that are simply other people.
I don't see a problem with a law being written by 'people'. The problem is when the elected representative of the people fails to do due diligence prior to submitting and voting on that law. The problem is when the representative only listens to the concerns of certain 'people' to the exclusion of other 'people' to whom that representative is supposed to be representing.
If Mr. Smith goes to Washington and I then approach Mr. Smith with a bill for him to submit, and that bill would advance Mr. Smith's interests - then it is all Mr. Smith's fault for submitting and voting on that bill.
If I give a bill to Mr. Smith that allows my interests, whether they be business, union or personal, a large advantage over my competitors (employer or neighbors) and Mr. Smith submits and votes on that bill, it makes no nevermind who or why I submitted it. The core issue is Mr. Smith and his brethren passing that bill.
Blaming a lobbyist for the failure of a representative is like blaming good marketing for someone buying a flat screen tv rather then paying that months rent.
And then we blame the lobbyists for the continued and repeated failures of our representatives while not throwing those same bums out. That is a lot like finger pointing into a mirror.
What's actually shocking is that Eric Schmidt didn't realize this until now.
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