2/13 Issue American Conservative - Lobbyist Explosion

[fastpat]

Yes, the size of the Washington Lobbying community has doubled over the last five years. This is not a coincidence.

It isn't just ideological libertarians who see the connection between government power and K Street. Jan Witold Baran, former general counsel of the Republican National Committee, observes, "The size of the lobbyist population is proportional to the size of government." Todd Purdum of Vanity Fair notes that the "astounding growth of the lobbying industry ... has tracked the growth of the federal government itself."

Thus, more and more active lobbyists are a sign of government power, not of public corruption. Of course, if you generally believe in the efficacy of bureaucratic federal rule, then you might see no need for lobbyists. But there is no reason to believe, a priori, that government is going to get it right. To the contrary, the rule of concentrated benefits and diffuse costs, expounded by the public choice school of economics, as well as the simple problem of letting some people squander other people's money and lives, gives much reason to believe that government will more often get it wrong. http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_02_13/cover.html

[techweenie]

I have heard that the guy Cheney shot is a lobbyist -- which makes sense, since Cheney sells access that way.