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Democracy And Lobbying In America

801 Words4 Pages

Seth Berman
Ms. Roitz
Pre-IB LA 9
12/4/15

Democracy and Lobbying

America: the land of democracy. We are a nation founded by the people and for the people. Our government is supposed to represent the views of the average citizen, not some rich king in a far-off land. But currently, our government does not represent the views of the electorate. Instead, it is controlled by big corporations. How? Through the destructive force known as lobbying.
According to the Senate of the United States, lobbying is “Trying to persuade legislators to propose, pass, or defeat legislation or to change existing laws” (Lobbying, Senate.gov). A lobbyist is hired by a business or organization and tries to get a legislator to vote a certain way, either through …show more content…

Democracy is defined as “A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people...” (Definition of Democracy, Merriam-Webster.com). Lobbying takes this power, and puts it into the hands of the corporation with the most money. Of course, the idea of lobbying isn’t terrible. It allows legislators to be informed about topics they otherwise wouldn’t have known about, (Dave Roos, HowStuffWorks.com) and it has the potential to give minorities more of a voice by allowing them to directly talk to their legislators. The right to petition the government is also in the Constitution, so lobbying, in some form, is one of our rights as Americans. But currently, lobbying does none of this. It allows rich corporations to get their way, even if it is against the interests of the nation.
So, how do we fix this? One way is to introduce heavy restrictions, ones that make the definition of a lobbyist more broad along with laws that restrict the amount of money a lobbyist can spend and how they can use it. We could also limit the amount of lobbyists any one business, organization, or individual could have. Laws like these would help lower the power single companies and organizations have in the government, while still allowing people to have a voice in their …show more content…

Government. Billions of dollars are spent on lobbying each year in order to change laws that a single company doesn’t like, even when the rest of America does. The way lobbying works today is corrupt; it is the slayer of democracy. As a nation, we need to work together to bring the power back to the people.

Bibliography:

"Lobbying Database." OpenSecrets. CFC, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. .

"List of countries by GDP (nominal)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Nov. 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

"Lobbying." United States Senate. United States Senate, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Dave Roos. "How Lobbying Works." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

"Legislator Gift Restrictions Overview." NCSL. National Conference of State Legislatures, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Definition of Democracy. Merriam-Webster Beta. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Spolar, Christine, and Joe Eaton. "The Food Lobby 's War on a Soda Tax." The Center for Public Integrity. Center for Public Integrity, 4 Nov. 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

"Economic Costs." Harvard T.H. Chan. The President and Fellows of Harvard College, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

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