Lobbyists swarm around Democrats

From the big guy himself over at the Daily Kos:

Now I don't want to oversimplify this issue. It's actually complex. There's nothing inherently wrong with lobbyists -- at their best, they help elected officials understand complex issues. For example, the net neutrality folks have to "lobby" members of Congress about the importance of the issue, and how it affects consumers. All issue groups, friendly or not, employ lobbyists to promote their agenda.

The problem is the appearance (and oftentimes fact) that government is for sale to the highest bidder.

Click here for the rest.

Kos, who is often described as a far-left liberal in the mainstream news media, strikes me as being much closer to the center than is popularly understood. His support for lobbying, in principle, is a case in point. Yes, legislators do, indeed, depend on lobbyists for information, but that's a big problem. The information provided by lobbyists is always biased, no matter what the ideology of the lobbying group is. Consequently, legislators get a distorted view of issues. It seems to me that legislative bodies, and especially Congress, have the resources and ability to do their own research, which would hopefully provide a more balanced view of reality. That is, I think lobbying should be banned. Given the way that the entire lobbying system appears to provide massive incentives for bribery and campaign finance shenanigans, I don't think I'm suggesting anything over the top: the practice of lobbying makes me really worry about democracy in our nation. Besides, legislators supposedly represent citizens, not corporations and special interest groups--it really pisses me off that these groups get more democracy than I, a plain and ordinary citizen, do.

Okay, how's this? I'll support lobbying if I, and all other Americans, get the same kind of access to legislators that lobbyists get. That seems only fair.

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