Political Thursday

Здравствуйте - pronounced "ZDRAVST-vwee-tye" ("hello" in Russian)

Lobbying: To try to influence the thinking of legislators or other public officials for or against a specific cause.

"hmmm....could you use it in a sentence please?"

When the health insurance companies found out the government was going create a public option they began to lobby against in order to protect themselves from losing profits.

Etymology: "One story states that the term originated at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, where it was used by Ulysses S. Grant to describe the political wheelers and dealers frequenting the hotel's lobby in order to access Grant, who was often found there, enjoying a cigar and brandy." (source: Wikipedia)

Now, not all lobbying is bad. There are plenty of lobbyists who represent respectable causes such as environmental protection, marijuana legalization, or a public option. But what happens when a corporation with millions upon billions of dollars recognizes that certain laws will hurt their profit margin for the quarter, for the year, or for even several? Rather then adapting for the benefit of the society, they decide to focus on themselves.

Corporations are entities. Entities that carry this instinctual survival where any threat to its demise, must be eliminated. Its hard for me to imagine people running a corporation. Rather a corporation, once fully established, begins running itself. And that is where it gets dangerous. Some corporations don't know the difference between right and wrong*: Enron, AIG, Halliburton, etc. And so, on the painful day when the people are impacted by actions without ethics, do we learn how to rectify their deep and willful ignorance. To stand up against them, together.

This week I read an article about the recent policy change on lobbying.

"The policy change, described by the White House as the next step in President Barack Obama’s drive to limit influence-peddling in Washington, could affect hundreds of lobbyists who serve on the panels, which were created by Congress in the 1970s to provide private-sector advice to the government."

Now I know that the biggest fear of full government control takes us to an Orwellian future, but I for one believe that should not be a worry on our minds. To few forget that, we the people, are in control of the government...just as long as we get up and prove it, and always remember the difference between right and wrong.*

Thank you,
Serg

*The discussion between right and wrong can be very thought provoking. After all, different cultures, societies, people have different view points on what makes right, right and wrong, wrong. "The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong." Carl Jung