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Irony

January 8th, 2006 10 Comments

The rousing defense of lobbying (somehow I don’t think the founders had Jack Abramoff pimping members of congress in mind) written in the Post is by someone who has given almost $6,000 to support the corrupt Republican majority.

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10 Responses to “Irony”

  1. Frank_D says:
    January 8, 2006 at 11:01 am

    I guess they’re not paying you much at MM, Oliver, because $6,000 ain’t squat compared to what so many other PAC’s and various interests pay.

  2. Semanticleo says:
    January 8, 2006 at 12:01 pm

    The author (in spite of donations) makes a point.

    However, the entire class of students is often punished because
    of a few wrongdoers. The innocent often suffer along with the
    guilty. The knee-jerk response to this is inevitable because
    everyone has to convince the public they are not Abramoffs.

    If the honest and honorable lobbyists and their benefactors
    cannot regulate the environment, the law will do it for them.

    Social controls are either built into a culture, or they are not.

    Anyway, I am willing to see my special interests do something
    else with their money for a while. Re-electing the same idiots
    over and over again has bent the spine of progress in this
    country.

  3. Oliver Willis says:
    January 8, 2006 at 1:01 pm

    Well I sure as hell don’t have a free 6k to hand out to politicians.

  4. buma says:
    January 8, 2006 at 2:01 pm

    I see Mr Baran gave $200 bucks to Little Ricky in May of 2005. Now that was wasted.

  5. Dugger says:
    January 9, 2006 at 9:01 am

    H*ll, I’ve made $6,000 just posting here.

    Dugger

  6. qkslvr_wolf says:
    January 9, 2006 at 1:01 pm

    You post from work too, eh dugger? We do have something in common.

    I heard an editorial on NPR this morning advocating making it illegal to fundraise in Washington DC. Sounds like a fantastic idea.

    I mean, personally, I like strict term limits, line-item voting for all members of congress on most votes, and computer generated districts based on a neutral algorithm, but hey, thats just me.

    Unfortunately, the chances of convincing enough americans that there is a problem before the country implodes is somewhere between slim and none.

  7. Dugger says:
    January 9, 2006 at 3:01 pm

    Yes, from work sometimes, plus I get $10 a post from Mr Rove.

    But, as I told Semant, I disagree completely Quickie. All of this is about the presumption of stupidity on the part of the average voter. My congressman, as far as I am concerned, can take millions from whomever he wants. If he votes wrong and takes no money, we kick his *ss out. If he votes right and takes millions, he gets re-elected. I don’t care about his guessed at motivation as long as he does the right thing – in my book. (now I realize there is a little libertarian naivete in that position)

    I like Newt a lot but his guys, my guys, deserted the ship on term limits and I’m glad they did. Voters should have the right to have tehir COngress person as long as they want. Again, vote her out if she messes up.

    Dugger

  8. Ryland says:
    January 9, 2006 at 6:01 pm

    Yes, from work sometimes, plus I get $10 a post from Mr Rove.

    I laughed at this, but then I said, “Hey…”

  9. Semanticleo says:
    January 10, 2006 at 7:01 pm

    Dugger;

    I never said the average voter was stupid. What I said was the average
    voter doesn’t give a crap why his car starts when he turns the key. He just
    wants to get where he’s going without having to think about it. When he
    hires a congressman to take care of business, he doesn’t want to be
    bothered with the details.

    Now I will say that the average person is mentally lazy and thinks of
    mental activity in the same vein as physical labor; something to be
    avoided. That laziness leads to doing minimal homework on issues
    and candidates before going to the polls and I think it results in poor
    performance in the legislatures. You can say, ‘…stupid is as stupid
    does’ if you choose to characterize it that way. I don’t.

    It’s about using the brains god gave you, or letting it go to waste.
    Such persons do not have the excuse of low intelligence.

  10. Dugger says:
    January 11, 2006 at 12:01 pm

    Semant,

    Ok, but my point is that voters have to hold their congress people accountable for what they actually do. Not why they think they did it. We tend to lose sight of that in all this hoopla.

    Dugger