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The Pros And Cons Of Lobbying

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Out of all of the political relationships between individuals which exist in the American political system, one of the most critical is that which exists between the lobbyist and legislator. To the average citizen, the foundation of America’s political process centers on the understanding, examination, and transfer of influence between politicians and representatives of public or private special interest groups. (Patterson, 2009) What is unseen by the average citizen is the multibillion dollar political industry developed by lobbyists for the benefit and information exchange on their special interests at the federal, state, county, municipal, and even local levels of government. The allure of lobbying at the federal level is because federal …show more content…

The data collected following the enactment of the disclosure act showed that lobbying expenditures between 1998 and 2006 almost doubled from 1.45 billion dollars to 2.6 billion dollars. The data also showed the number of registered lobbyists grew from 10,693 to 15,247. (Open Secrets, 2015) Because of the sheer amount of lobbyists and money being spent on special interests, the true data on the outcomes and successes of lobbying, tend to surprise people. The true impact of modern day lobbying is its successful and consistent achievement of nothing, the maintenance of the status quo. Three-fifths of the time, lobbying analysts observe gridlock and the successful stalemating of proposals, with occasional breakthroughs when the special interest groups push for reform. (Baumgartner, …show more content…

There have been notable examples in the last two decades of lobbying firms providing legislative proposals and specific verbiage they would like to see included in bills. In 1998, American International Group (AIG) was at the forefront of a work visa battle pertaining to the use of foreign workers over Americans. A proposed piece of legislation, created to fix the issue and protect American jobs from outsourcing, was created by the House Judiciary Committee and sent to the house floor. AIG, using their strong ties to the Republican Party, got the verbiage on protections written in a more vague manner which is longer in length and less regulatory. (Miano,

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In the past few years, the United States has seen a huge spike in the money spent in federal elections (See Appendix 4.B). Not only have candidates been making greater efforts to communicate their ideas to the American public, but super PACs have also been displaying their support for candidates and their political policies; they do so by using their right to accept unlimited donations from the public and later, use that money to promote certain candidates, or to sway voters in a desired direction. The immense power that super PACs have to sway voters has come under harsh criticism, spurring the creation of new laws and limits on the super PACs in an attempt to keep them in check and to avoid possible corruption. These limits on super

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I think that before reading this book, I did not see lobbyists in a very positive light just because it’s always something that I have associated with deceit. Yet, the way that they are portrayed in the book was the opposite of what I thought they were. Rosenthal discusses how lobbyists have to be honest because senators do utilize them as a source of information and the lobbyists do want to have a positive relationship with the senators. I think that the relationship between the lobbyists and the senators is what stuck out the most to me. I also thought it was interesting that the book went in depth not only about the basic function of a bicameral legislature, but also about what senators need to think about and how they make decisions.

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Do you feel insignificant during elections? Do you worry that there is too much money in politics? Do you believe that campaigns are corrupt? All these common worries become real issues in 2010 with Citizens United v. FEC: a Supreme Court ruling that will forever be significant to elections. The Citizens United ruling "opened the door" for unrestricted campaign spending by corporations, but most importantly the case led to the formation of groups called super PACs: corporations or labor unions that have the ability to use its general treasury and unlimited donations to influence elections.

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1. They are important source of information. A member who is part of congress has to evolve themselves with many policy areas. But a lobbyists can confine themselves to one area and can by providing specialized expertise. If the information is powerful, then the lobbyist can be an allies. 2.

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Congressional Activity As it is suggested by the title of the article, Presentation of Partisanship: Constituency Connections and Partisan Congressional Activity by Scott R. Meinke, House members play an imperative role by informing their constituents in regards to the work the members partake in partisan Washington D.C., the nation’s capital. Going into depth, this article challenges and explores the extent of the choice to which the House members “relate their involvement in partisan Washington activity to constituency representation.” (Meinke 854) In essence, Meinke, within the article, discusses that many members of the House involve themselves with committees and higher chair positions within those committees, as well as whip networks

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During the formation of the United States, America’s founders decided upon a federal bicameral political system. This ultimately divided the United States government legislature between Federal and State bodies embedded within Congress: the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. This concept of congressional legislation occurred while large and small states sought to reach a compromise regarding the formatting of proportional representative bodies. In doing so, Congress was given several functions intended to combat corruption, characterized by the application of legislative power, the assurance of equal representation within government policy, and oversight in the Checks and Balance system. However, despite efforts to ensure Congress as

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This essay will discuss the impact of lobbyist on legislation in Washington, DC and the amount of dollars spent to influence federal policies. Throughout a normal day in Washington DC, the hustle and bustle of lobbyist is taking place in the Capital building, White House and along K Street, which is the home of many of the lobbying firms. There are special interest groups, corporations and industries that hire in-house lobbyist or lobbyist firms to influence legislation to benefit their cause. For example, some of these causes may include, but are not limited to tax breaks, subsidies and changes to current regulations or laws.

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Many officeholders, legislators, and members of Academia argue that the supreme court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has single-handedly destroyed American democracy as we know it. This case is one of many that, in essence, allows legalized bribery to occur within the American political system, with most large money contributions to politicians coming from sizably influential corporations. Although many elected officials believe corporate money in politics strengthens democracy, it contrarily damages democracy and is the reason campaign finance reform is the greatest issue facing American politics. Since 1976, the US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of cases like Buckley v. Valeo and First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, which claims corporations are considered people; and based on First Amendment rights, people are allowed to spend their money within the political arena. Citizens United v. FEC is the supreme court decision that has led to further corruption within the American campaign finance system, while halting efforts to minimize money in politics.

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A controversial issue in politics is campaign finance reform. Today’s political campaigns are largely funded by the wealthy elite in America and the corporations they own and fund. Currently, campaigns and campaign finances are government by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC is “the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency” (The FEC).

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Here, it can be argued that the corporate contributions to campaigns are economic because those funds are used to purchase airtime and other campaign related resources. Additionally, the donated funds may be seen as a service because by helping a campaign the corporation expects political support for certain issues in return. Raich also provided an alternative analysis that is based on an existing regulatory scheme. However, unlike Raich, where there was the existence of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the facts in this case do not indicate that one exists. In order to do a proper analysis that should be added to the facts to see if “Congress had a rational basis for believing that failure to regulate” corporate campaign financing would “leave a gaping hole” in an existing regulation.

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Interest groups in Texas are relatively powerful actors in the political process. Organized interest groups and their representatives, also known as “the lobby” participates in the policymaking and political processes in Texas. Interest groups provide critical channels for Texans to communicate their political preferences and attempt to influence government actors and their fellow

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The Iron Triangle is a concept that denotes the decision-making arrangement which is controlled by interest groups, congressional committees and executive agency personnel, or “bureaucracy.” It is policy-making relationship between a “triangle” made up of three groups, the special interest groups, congress, and governmental agencies, where these groups cooperate and exercise virtually unstoppable “iron clad” control to progress each other’s agenda to achieve a common goal. Theoretically, in this structured arrangement, departments and agencies can keep in close touch with interest group lobbyist who want to influence their actions. Interest groups can provide informational statistics to these government agencies that are both beneficial

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When you work in this field you can find yourself in meetings with lobbyists,

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Lobbying politicians is the predominant way in which citizens and organizations can attempt to shape the political process (Bernhagen, 2012, p. 20). Individuals who share common interests get together and form an interest group which, through lobbying, influences the law to either their, or society's, advantage. Specifically, these interest groups try to pressure the government to change public policies (Dyck, 2012, p. 18). There are, in fact, two types of interest groups; private interest groups and public interest groups. The difference between the two is one of utmost importance.

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Not only this, lobbyists should go after the politicians, with ideas and

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