I don't think that lobbying is inherently bad. On the other hand, it is frequently not good. And you toss around the term "special interest group" but have you really thought about what that means?
Here's an example. In the Northwest, we've had some long, drawn out fights over logging, ecosystem protection, recreational forest use and what not. Various levels of government, from counties on up to Congress, have weighed in at various times as we've tried to come up with something approaching a sustainable, predictable framework. In all of those discussion, I really want each set of stakeholders represented. I want logging companies represented, I want ecosystem scientists represented, I want fishermen and hunters represented, I want backpackers and hikers represented. They each have groups that are set up to represent their stakeholders and those groups know the ins and outs of the issues and are intimately familiar with the terrain and know how to communicate the information they've brought to the table. I think that is valuable and they are each what you'd call "special interest groups". The problem, to my mind, is when these groups go beyond presenting information and advising to real back room deals, writing legislation, paying off officials and making it so that officials will essentially exclude other sets of stakeholders to the detriment of the whole process. Cheers, Judah On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 7:16 AM, Sisk, Kris <ks...@gckschools.com> wrote: > > <edit> > It would be better if special intrest groups and unions and corporations > left. > </edit> > > There, that's better. > > Seriously, kick them all out of capital hill. The only people talking to > Congressmen about how they should vote should be the people who hired > them. Too bad American politics will never allow that. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Casey Dougall [mailto:ca...@uberwebsitesolutions.com] > Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 5:08 PM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: change baby! > > It would be better if special intrest groups and unions and corporations > stuck to lobbying and left election cycle run it's course. > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:330342 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
