Who Owns Congress?

That was the title of a bestselling book written decades ago by Mark Green, a former “Nader’s Raider.” Green raised a number of pertinent questions in that book about the viability of a Congress that seemed hopelessly beholden and, in too many ways, prisoner, to special interests of every variety, right and left.

A few decades later.

The title of that book seems more prescient than ever. With the popularity of both political parties and the Congress they pretend to serve at all time lows, it is a good time to look again at that Mark Green question.

Why is it that candidates spend so much money every two years (these numbers are no longer measured in millions, but billions with a B) to gain access to a job that pays so much less than most executive positions at middle-level corporations? Why do these candidates spend every hour of their lives for long months on end to win brutal campaigns that lead to such low paying, thankless employment? (Sure, Congresspeople make more than most of us but compared to their high-living associates, colleagues, and pals, Congressional pay equals volunteer work.)

Can you spell S-p-e-c-i-a-l i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t-s?

Special interests come in all sizes and influence and we all know how they have polluted the work of Congress with an alarming success, most especially, over the past fifty years. Nearly every major national and multi-national industry spends hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars every year maintaining high-profile (and some definitely NOT so high profile) lobbyists that do nothing but prowl the corridors of power, like voracious snakes, seeking influence and favors from the men and women who were supposedly elected to represent “the little guy.” Right. Remember him? That would be you and me.

Once we’ve “elected” this grateful Congress, those special interests get down to the serious work of the people, and believe it, they are equal opportunity all the way. Party affiliation means a lot less to the paid lobbyists of Capitol Hill than it does to the voters who put these guys and gals in office.

Which raises a question that Mark Green might have been interested in all those years ago: does it really matter which party is in charge of those not-so-brightly-lit corridors of Congress at any given time? It might surprise a lot of partisan voters who spend every hour debating the certain points of their political beliefs, to find out how truly even handed the lobbyists are. You have the cash? We have the beliefs.

The next time you’re arguing the benefits of voting for your favorite Republican or Democratic candidate and wondering why nothing ever moves past the discussion stage in Congress, think about that great bi-partisan political social gathering known as the Washington Lobby Party.

They’re the party you’re most likely voting for.