Lobbying is a part of everyday life in the United States. Corporations lobby, big and small, and so do people. But who is getting truly heard? It’s the people who spend the most money who get heard. The poor, the small, the weakest, they don’t get heard. So much money is spent in lobbying; it makes people wonder why the US can’t spend that money trying to get us out of debt. Last, lobbyists are very one-sided, convincing congress of their view and not showing the downfalls of that view. Lobbying is bad for the United States and the world.
Our countries debt just keeps getting bigger, 17 Trillion and counting. The number is growing and isn’t stopping. Our country has a problem with cutting expenses without keeping the prices and taxes of items low, or getting angry that the taxes are too high. The money involved with lobbying is outrageous though. It is billions of dollars. In 2012, 13.3 billion dollars was spent on lobbying. The money is coming from small and large corporations and rich individuals that have the money to spend to get lobbyists to sway congress to lean in their direction. Whether it’s twenty-five dollars or 93 million, people are lobbying with tons of money all the time. “The California computer maker nearly doubled it’s budget for contract lobbyists to $734,000 last year…” (Birnbaum). Lobbying would be okay if the money was used to solve the United States’ true issues but the big problems aren’t turning around too quickly with how much money is being spent to sway congressmen in a certain direction. There is so much money in the world, especially in lobbying; our country should not have trillions of dollars in debt.
Secondly, lobbyists are very one-sided. They see their view and their view only. When a lobbyist is persuading congressmen, they aren’t giving the other side. They are explaining all the good things and no bad. They sway congressmen with the truth, but also a lack of truth. They aren’t saying everything. “After 2006 elections, when Democrats took control of the House and Senate, 207 lobbyists took jobs on the Hill, most of them Democrats,” (“Revolving door of employment between Congress, lobbying firms, study shows”). This shows people that Democrat lobbyists are persuading the Democrat way, and not seeing the other. Whatever party is lobbying has the power, and that is not fair.
Last, small business’s have no chance in the world of lobbying. “82% of all lobbyists are representing big businesses,” (“Lobbyists: Positive or Negative Influence”). There is definitely an unfair representation of small business. When people live in a small community, such as Whatcom County, the county thrives off small businesses, and when small businesses are suffering so is the county. Small towns and cities need support of small business and when small businesses don’t have enough money for lobbying, their opportunities go down. Their side is not seen by congressmen. Big businesses can pay more money to lobbyists and have more, meaning their side is the main priority of the congressmen. Big companies like Walmart, of course they can have many lobbyists to take their side, but what happens to Whatcom Farmers Coop right down the road? They don’t have the money to have lobbyists which means congressmen may not vote in their favor. Small businesses suffer as a result.
All in all, I believe that lobbying is bad for the United States. Too much money is spent in this area and should be used for other things. Congressmen don’t need lobbyists to help them make a smart decision. Congressmen are only seeing one side when they are being lobbied. But the most important is definitely that small businesses aren’t heard. This is very important to small towns and cities. There is too many small businesses in the world to ignore their opinion. The world could definitely go without lobbying and it would help the United States in the long run solve other issues.