Lobbying In The US And How It Can Affect The American Dream

The American Dream is the idea that anyone who works hard enough can have wealth and success here in the United States. A growing threat to that ideal is money in politics, with lobbying in particular at the forefront of the issue. In this essay we’ll be taking a look at the historical origins of lobbying in the U.S, it’s original purpose,what it’s become and how it can affect the american dream.

Lobbying has existed in the U.S since its founding. Although the term ‘lobbying’ would not be coined until the early 19th century, the concept itself was enshrined in an often overlooked passage of the first amendment, which allows the right “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances''. It was originally a way for businesses and other entities to convey their needs and concerns to the U.S government. Businesses would want to make sure that laws and regulations were passed that would help their business succeed. In its early days, it allowed people to ‘bridge the gap’ if you will between ordinary citizens and politicians. This was especially important back then, due to the lack of technological advancements we have now. It was also a smaller nation and handling those sorts of political interactions were much more manageable. Unfortunately, as time progresses and current settings/standards change, the concept of ‘lobbying’ has not aged well.

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Although lobbying as a system has not aged well, major issues had already arisen as early as the 19th century, with the advent of trains and building the railroads across the United States. When the country was still young, much of it, the west in particular, was still very wild. Different railroad companies sprouted up around the country, with the intention of building tracks. A major reason for this was companies were able to have the projects funded through public subsidies, land grants and loans from the federal government. Of course, this was a big incentive. Due to this, lobbyists would work to petition and sway the U.S government for these loans which were ultimately funded by tax payers.

One of the many major problems this presented was different companies using different sized tracks, which would be unable to connect with other kinds. Also, almost the entire western U.S was wild at that point, with tracks and stations having no use but political ones. Around this time, a few lobbyists had realized that they only had so much ‘pull’ if they operated in Washington, D.C - So they found a way to drum up local support and organized publicity campaigns. The thing is, they were created just to push a false narrative, there was never any organic support or desire from the people. This tactic went on to become known as ‘astro-turfing’ and still occurs frequently in politics today. Ultimately, what this meant was that millions of tax-payer dollars were spent on mostly inefficient and unnecessary railroad projects, just for the loans and land grants companies would receive for taking these tasks on. Luckily, after the civil war, plenty of tracks were destroyed and they were able to ultimately reorganize and restructure them. It’s an interesting backdrop to the story of the rail-roads, as well as a good example of how lobbyists can work behind the scenes.

In modern times, lobbying still exists, although there have been some changes and regulations applied to help try and keep things balanced. But, as always, people inevitably find a way around these rules. The first major act introduced was the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946. Now this applied to; “Any person who shall engage himself for pay or for any consideration for the purpose of attempting to influence the passage or defeat of any legislation by the Congress of the United States.” - Basically what this meant, was that if you were being paid to try and influence policies, now you have to register. It was at least a step in the right direction, people already had a growing concern. Nearly 50 years later, they would next pass the “Lobbying disclosure Act of 1995”. This added a few more details, such as stricter registration and more insight as to what exactly you were lobbying for. Although more regulations were put in place, it was still hardly foolproof.

For example; one would not legally be considered a lobbyist if they devoted less than 20% of their time for a particular client on lobbying activities. To cover up having to register legally as a lobbyist, people have gone as far as having medical programs, which clients would become a ‘member’ of. This is just one example of how one could hypothetically work around these rules. The reason the system is able to be exploited i