Every once in a while, a column comes along that really moves you – or causes you to think about something in a totally different way. Today’s Golden Pen Award winner is famed economist Walter Williams. Williams really gets to the core of the problem in Washington, D.C. — and it is not the lobbyists. Yeah, what Jack Abramoff did was wrong, but the solution to stopping this problem does not lie with ‘reforms aimed at lobbyists’ – but rather an introspective look by Congress at itself.
Williams, in part, writes:
Why do corporations, unions and other interest groups fork over millions of dollars to the campaign coffers of politicians? Is it because these groups are extraordinarily civic-minded Americans who have a deep interest in congressmen doing their jobs of upholding and defending the U.S. Constitution? Might it be that these groups and their Washington-based lobby arms, numbering in the thousands, just love participating in the political process? Anyone answering in the affirmative to either question probably also believes that storks deliver babies and there really is an Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.A much better explanation for the millions going to the campaign coffers of Washington politicians lies in the awesome growth of government control over business, property, employment and other areas of our lives. Having such power, Washington politicians are in the position to grant favors. The greater their power to grant favors, the greater the value of being able to influence Congress, and there’s no better influence than money.
The generic favor sought is to get Congress, under one ruse or another, to grant a privilege or right to one group of Americans that will be denied another group of Americans. A variant of this privilege is to get Congress to do something that would be criminal if done privately.
Williams has hit the nail on the head with his last paragraph above. If Members of Congress want to go after lobbyists, then they should simply tell the lobbyists — no more preferential treatment for your clients, period.
Read William’s whole brilliant piece on the main page — it’s the Golden Pen. When you are done, then you will agree that instead all Republicans supporting a lobbyist ‘reform’ package, why don’t they all sign a no-more-pork/no-more-earmarks/no-more-favoritism pledge. As long as Congress is for sale, someone will try to buy the institution.
NOVAK HAS HIS FACTS WRONG ON CD 50
DELEGATION HAS NOT ENDORSED BRIAN BILBRAY
In his weekly political-spin e-mail, conservative columnist Bob Novak does some handicapping in 
the Special Election in San Diego to replace Duke Cunningham (CD 50). I was very curious when I read that:
Since I keep my ear to the group, would have thought that I would know about this. Especially since Bilbray would be telling the world, I would assume. So the FR cub reporter when into action, and I spoke with two different members of the California Republican Congressional Delegation…who confirmed for me that there has been no formal vote of the delegation to endorse ‘as a group’ in this primary. That said, it appears that there are a number of members of the delegation, led by Rep. Darrell Issa and Rep. David Dreier, who are pushing for all of the support they can get for Bilbray. I would only say this, the 50th Congressional District should be sending to Washington, D.C. someone who is a solid GOP vote, and will be pushing the House Leadership to stop facilitating growth in the size of the federal government. If Bilbray can convince voters that it him, great. If not, then he shouldn’t go to Washington. But given the failure of Republicans in Congress to reign in the size and scope of America’s centralized government, the more Congressmen that endorse Bilbray, the more concerned I become that he will go back there and become part of the problem.
(I should add that some in Congress have tried to convince me that they are in fact trying to move the ball down the field, and reduce spending… Only the ‘pure genious’ of leadership is that these struggles apparently take place in closed door meetings, away from the discernable eye of the public, so that no one knows what is being debated. "Leadership" means putting up votes, and being prepared to lose them – but showing the public what they are trying to achieve, and giving stalwarts a chance to create a voting record of reform, and force others who embrace big government to vote on common sense proposals. Instead, votes don’t come to the floor until they can win – and so Congress, and the Leadership wonder WHY there is a PR problem? It’s not rocket science — from our perspective, the only winner is government, which continues to grow.)
Well, it’s getting late, and while I have more to write about, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow!
Have a great day!
Jon