When it comes to people making comments to or about me, normally I’m like a duck – they just roll right off. But yesterday I had one that stuck at least a little. The context of the situation was that I suggested that Congress wasn’t voting for what the public wants because we don’t pay them as much as the lobbyists do. I didn’t point my finger at any specific members because in my mind, I couldn’t in the space allowed – the list is too long. And according to the folks at OpenSecrets.org, I wasn’t off-base in that thinking.
The folks there tirelessly hunt down the dirty big secrets of the beltway – at least the ones about lobbyists, and how things really get done in Congress. And I’m still not going to point fingers here, mostly because I have no desire to wholesale copy content from Open Secrets. For those who just have to see all the numbers, pick your industry here. Since I was thinking about health care, those numbers are here. I’m focusing on the insurance industry because they have the most to lose in health care reform.
The big numbers on that page certainly look scary, and rightfully so. The observation I was making yesterday was that the taxpayers only pay Congress to do their jobs, while the lobbies pay members to help them keep their jobs. We’re talking about job security here, and given the current state of the economy, that falls under the “priceless” category in those MasterCard commercials.
But priceless or not, the lobbies in general have definitely made the old college try when it comes to putting a dollar amount on it – many times at the expense of the taxpayers. According to Rasmussen Reports 54% of Americans think that we need health care reform, and 61% think we need to pass a bill this year. (Be patient, and scroll, since those numbers are pretty far down the page.)
According to the good folks at Google and U.S. Census Bureau, our current population is 304,059,724, and according to my handy-dandy calculator, 61% of that number is approximately 185,476,432 (rounded up one.)
Now, back to the big numbers over at Open Secrets, since 1990, the health care lobby has given lawmakers over $321 million. Normally, I’d sit here and say that’s an insurmountable number for the public to compete with, but maybe it’s not.
What would happen if the 185,476,432 Americans who supposedly want health care reform would send $3 each to their Congresspeople and Senators (that’s $1 for each), with a note saying that’s what they want? The grand total would be $556,429,296 – that’s $235,343,925 more than the current nearly ten-year total given by the insurance lobby!
True, it’s a shame that anyone should even suggest that the people pay their legislators from their own pockets, above and beyond what they already pay through taxes. However, it does place things in an interesting perspective. How would the political landscape change in D.C. if a bunch of grassroots movements sprouted up, and encouraged the people to do this sort of thing en masse? Would we still need campaign finance reform to keep lobbies in check, or would the people make it too expensive for special interests to bother anymore?
For now, I’m going to debate on whether or not I’m going to look up my Congressman and Senators, and mail them a small donation – with my request, of course.
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