[drone-list] OT: Re: Corporate interests vs. state & local policies
My reply is off-topic, yhbw. On 3/21/13 1:02 AM, Al Mac Wow wrote:
[CREW] have done FOIA against practically every government agency imaginable, to find out to what degree Corporate Citizens are running the show. They have found that Lobbyists are involved in micro managing every branch of government b legislative, judicial, administrative b every department b every agency b at federal, state, and local levels.
As a private citizen that is actively involved in crafting legislation and lobbying elected officials, I resemble that remark. Generalizations are sometimes useful, but they always obscure the truth. And the truth is we need more citizen lobbying and less promotion of the belief that lobbying is a bad thing. After becoming actively involved in state politics, it's clear to me why lobbyists are able to exert influence that /prima facie/ seems problematic: without the assistance of lobbyists (corporate and citizen) there would be no way for our elected officials and their staffs to do the work that is expected of them. For example, during the current session in Texas there have been 5,723 bills filed in the House and Senate. The Representatives and Senators have five months to work through that load, which typically results in about 1,400 bills passed. Each Legislator has no more than ten fulltime staffers, often college interns, each with multiple far-flung areas of responsibility - not expertise. Legislators are expected to know all about the bills they have filed, the bills that pass through their committee assignments, and those that they finally vote on. Yet we feel justified ridiculing them if they do not, or if they follow guidance from their affiliated party. Lobbyists have influence because Legislators need all the help they can get. They appreciate it. And that is how that game is played. That means that you and I, should we choose, can play that game too. I encourage everyone on this list to try it out. gf -- Gregory Foster || gfoster@entersection.org @gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/ -- Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at companys@stanford.edu or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/drone-list ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
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Gregory Foster