Were William Shakespeare alive today, I’m certain that, based on the headlines screaming across the front pages of California newspapers over the weekend, his famous line from Henry IV would have been, “The first thing we do, is kill all the lobbyists.”
I can remember the days in the 1970s when there were no more than 300 lobbyists in Washington, DC. Today there are over 35,000. A comparatively similar growth in the profession of persuasion has occurred simultaneously in River City, aka Sacramento.
What is it about the media that causes them to scream “Lobbyists!”, as if we were an attacking horde of blood-thirsty Visigoths, whenever there is contention among competing interests over matters of public policy? Democracy does not evolve in and of itself from some magical source to bless us. We have to work for it, fight for it, and win, lose or draw for it.
Does there always have to be some “bad guy” in the picture to make the plot work for the news media? Are the lobbyists who work for the public employees or the teachers unions or environmental groups any better or worse citizens than those who work for small businesses, hospitals, or Silicon Valley?
We are all wildly schizophrenic when it comes to our own competing interests. If you’re a home owner (wants lower taxes) and a teacher (wants higher pay) and a parent (wants better schools) and a car owner (wants lower fees) you are inherently all over the place in terms what you think is best for yourself when it comes to government. Essentially, you’re in conflict with yourself at lots of levels.
Like it or not, we’re all in this together, including all of our multiple personalities. It’s not the lobbyists’ fault if people can’t make up their minds about what’s most important to them. Our job is to help them get what they want when they figure it out. If we don’t do it, it’ll never get done.