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"There are four great lobbies in Washington: big oil, Wall Street, the military-industrial complex, and big health care. These industries spend billions of dollars a year to control the levers of power in their narrow self-interest." (Photo: Bill Clark:CQ Roll Call/ K Street is the center of the political lobbyist industry in Washington)
Lies and the Lying Lobbyists Who Tell Them
Jul 20, 2017
The greatest problem in Washington is not polarization but lying. The legislative machinery has ground to a halt not because of the great divide between liberals and conservatives but because of the great divide between the lobbyists and the people. The lobbyists want things that are against the public interest, and they use lies and secrecy to try to win. The collapse of the Obamacare repeal demonstrates the limits of this corruption.
There are four great lobbies in Washington: big oil, Wall Street, the military-industrial complex, and big health care. These industries spend billions of dollars a year to control the levers of power in their narrow self-interest. Most of what they favor runs against the broad public interest. In total, the four sectors spent around $1.5 billion in lobbying and another $1.5 billion in campaign financing in 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Big oil wants to continue oil and gas fracking and deep sea drilling even though it pollutes the environment and causes global warming. Wall Street wants to make huge fees from financial speculation even though this frenzied activity has no social value. The military-industrial complex wants to build and sell weapons systems even though it makes war much more likely. Big health care wants to block every form of cost control despite the wildly overpriced health care system. Corporate lobbies want to cut taxes despite a large and growing budget deficit.
On every issue, the dominant reality is not public polarization but broad public consensus. It is true that our diverse country has inevitable divisions, but most often with 60-to-40 percent or 70-to-30 percent public majorities, not 50-50 deadlocks. Most Americans recognize the priority of renewable energy over fossil fuels. They feel many corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes. They oppose the perpetual wars that Washington wages in our name. And they want medical costs kept down.
What is a lobbyist to do to overcome public opinion? Part of the answer is propaganda: Oil does not cause global warming; sky-high drug prices lead to innovation, not destitution; tax cuts pay for themselves. We've heard these lies for decades now.
When the lies fail, which they tend do in an open society, the lobbyists resort to secrecy and subterfuge. The health care lobby wrote the key provision to block Medicare from negotiating drug prices literally in the middle of the night of the vote on Medicare Part D, in 2003.
The attempt by President Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and majority leader Mitch McConnell to pass the Obamacare repeal was especially sordid. The aim was to cut health benefits rather than to control health costs. The poor and the elderly would have suffered. The game plan was to rush the repeal to adoption without a moment of public hearings, a word of expert testimony, or a piece of objective analysis.
Yet the truth intruded. The Republicans could not stop the nonpartisan reports by the Congressional Budget Office that their nasty draft legislation would leave 22 more people uninsured by 2026. Governors, mayors, and civic groups weighed in. A few brave Republicans, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, broke ranks.
So far, the lobbyists' lies have been mostly stymied. America's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, pushed by big oil, has been met with stony resistance by the rest of the world, and by states and cities within the United States. Other attempts at deregulation are stuck in the courts.
Yet one more lobbying push is on the way. The corporate lobbies are determined to cut taxes despite large budget deficits. The winners would be the superrich and the losers would be today's millennials, who would inherit a mountain of public debt. Again, Trump, Ryan, and McConnell are likely to attempt to push this through without hearings or debate.
If we are vigilant, the truth will come out, the voters will beat the special interests, tax breaks for the rich will be defeated, and the center will hold.
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Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 Boston Globe
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Sachs is the author, most recently, of "A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism" (2020). Other books include: "Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable" (2017) and "The Age of Sustainable Development," (2015) with Ban Ki-moon.
The greatest problem in Washington is not polarization but lying. The legislative machinery has ground to a halt not because of the great divide between liberals and conservatives but because of the great divide between the lobbyists and the people. The lobbyists want things that are against the public interest, and they use lies and secrecy to try to win. The collapse of the Obamacare repeal demonstrates the limits of this corruption.
There are four great lobbies in Washington: big oil, Wall Street, the military-industrial complex, and big health care. These industries spend billions of dollars a year to control the levers of power in their narrow self-interest. Most of what they favor runs against the broad public interest. In total, the four sectors spent around $1.5 billion in lobbying and another $1.5 billion in campaign financing in 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Big oil wants to continue oil and gas fracking and deep sea drilling even though it pollutes the environment and causes global warming. Wall Street wants to make huge fees from financial speculation even though this frenzied activity has no social value. The military-industrial complex wants to build and sell weapons systems even though it makes war much more likely. Big health care wants to block every form of cost control despite the wildly overpriced health care system. Corporate lobbies want to cut taxes despite a large and growing budget deficit.
On every issue, the dominant reality is not public polarization but broad public consensus. It is true that our diverse country has inevitable divisions, but most often with 60-to-40 percent or 70-to-30 percent public majorities, not 50-50 deadlocks. Most Americans recognize the priority of renewable energy over fossil fuels. They feel many corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes. They oppose the perpetual wars that Washington wages in our name. And they want medical costs kept down.
What is a lobbyist to do to overcome public opinion? Part of the answer is propaganda: Oil does not cause global warming; sky-high drug prices lead to innovation, not destitution; tax cuts pay for themselves. We've heard these lies for decades now.
When the lies fail, which they tend do in an open society, the lobbyists resort to secrecy and subterfuge. The health care lobby wrote the key provision to block Medicare from negotiating drug prices literally in the middle of the night of the vote on Medicare Part D, in 2003.
The attempt by President Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and majority leader Mitch McConnell to pass the Obamacare repeal was especially sordid. The aim was to cut health benefits rather than to control health costs. The poor and the elderly would have suffered. The game plan was to rush the repeal to adoption without a moment of public hearings, a word of expert testimony, or a piece of objective analysis.
Yet the truth intruded. The Republicans could not stop the nonpartisan reports by the Congressional Budget Office that their nasty draft legislation would leave 22 more people uninsured by 2026. Governors, mayors, and civic groups weighed in. A few brave Republicans, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, broke ranks.
So far, the lobbyists' lies have been mostly stymied. America's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, pushed by big oil, has been met with stony resistance by the rest of the world, and by states and cities within the United States. Other attempts at deregulation are stuck in the courts.
Yet one more lobbying push is on the way. The corporate lobbies are determined to cut taxes despite large budget deficits. The winners would be the superrich and the losers would be today's millennials, who would inherit a mountain of public debt. Again, Trump, Ryan, and McConnell are likely to attempt to push this through without hearings or debate.
If we are vigilant, the truth will come out, the voters will beat the special interests, tax breaks for the rich will be defeated, and the center will hold.
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Sachs is the author, most recently, of "A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism" (2020). Other books include: "Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable" (2017) and "The Age of Sustainable Development," (2015) with Ban Ki-moon.
The greatest problem in Washington is not polarization but lying. The legislative machinery has ground to a halt not because of the great divide between liberals and conservatives but because of the great divide between the lobbyists and the people. The lobbyists want things that are against the public interest, and they use lies and secrecy to try to win. The collapse of the Obamacare repeal demonstrates the limits of this corruption.
There are four great lobbies in Washington: big oil, Wall Street, the military-industrial complex, and big health care. These industries spend billions of dollars a year to control the levers of power in their narrow self-interest. Most of what they favor runs against the broad public interest. In total, the four sectors spent around $1.5 billion in lobbying and another $1.5 billion in campaign financing in 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Big oil wants to continue oil and gas fracking and deep sea drilling even though it pollutes the environment and causes global warming. Wall Street wants to make huge fees from financial speculation even though this frenzied activity has no social value. The military-industrial complex wants to build and sell weapons systems even though it makes war much more likely. Big health care wants to block every form of cost control despite the wildly overpriced health care system. Corporate lobbies want to cut taxes despite a large and growing budget deficit.
On every issue, the dominant reality is not public polarization but broad public consensus. It is true that our diverse country has inevitable divisions, but most often with 60-to-40 percent or 70-to-30 percent public majorities, not 50-50 deadlocks. Most Americans recognize the priority of renewable energy over fossil fuels. They feel many corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes. They oppose the perpetual wars that Washington wages in our name. And they want medical costs kept down.
What is a lobbyist to do to overcome public opinion? Part of the answer is propaganda: Oil does not cause global warming; sky-high drug prices lead to innovation, not destitution; tax cuts pay for themselves. We've heard these lies for decades now.
When the lies fail, which they tend do in an open society, the lobbyists resort to secrecy and subterfuge. The health care lobby wrote the key provision to block Medicare from negotiating drug prices literally in the middle of the night of the vote on Medicare Part D, in 2003.
The attempt by President Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and majority leader Mitch McConnell to pass the Obamacare repeal was especially sordid. The aim was to cut health benefits rather than to control health costs. The poor and the elderly would have suffered. The game plan was to rush the repeal to adoption without a moment of public hearings, a word of expert testimony, or a piece of objective analysis.
Yet the truth intruded. The Republicans could not stop the nonpartisan reports by the Congressional Budget Office that their nasty draft legislation would leave 22 more people uninsured by 2026. Governors, mayors, and civic groups weighed in. A few brave Republicans, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, broke ranks.
So far, the lobbyists' lies have been mostly stymied. America's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, pushed by big oil, has been met with stony resistance by the rest of the world, and by states and cities within the United States. Other attempts at deregulation are stuck in the courts.
Yet one more lobbying push is on the way. The corporate lobbies are determined to cut taxes despite large budget deficits. The winners would be the superrich and the losers would be today's millennials, who would inherit a mountain of public debt. Again, Trump, Ryan, and McConnell are likely to attempt to push this through without hearings or debate.
If we are vigilant, the truth will come out, the voters will beat the special interests, tax breaks for the rich will be defeated, and the center will hold.
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