What is Lobbying?

In U.S. politics, the notion of lobbying has taken a central role, especially as Americans question the role that money plays in influencing politics. While lobbying has changed and evolved throughout U.S. history, it has always played an important role in political decisions and policy outcomes. Officially, lobbying refers to the actions of groups or individuals to leverage the decisions of members of government to achieve a specific outcome. In early U.S. history, those seeking to influence politics did so by trying to sway the votes of legislators by bombarding them in the lobby of their offices. This is where the term "lobbying" derives from. While this was the original form, today, lobbying takes many shapes, including phoning public officials, attempting to persuade them in person, or forming organizations specifically designed to help influence a certain political outcome. Some of the most powerful lobbying groups today include those in the pharmaceutical and medical industries, as well as large corporations like Amazon. Each of these groups attempts to move policy to a place that is more favorable for them, using various means, however, this may not include bribery. Lobbying organizations employ different tactics to achieve their aims. Since the U.S. is a democracy, the methods that lobbying groups use are often open and related to applying pressure from the outside. Some more established groups have connections to specific law-makers or politicians that they can leverage as well. For many interest groups, they use the media, and organize demonstrations or first-amendment activities in order to get their views across. Thus, the ability to lobby depends on a groups' resources, connections, and reach. Today, money also plays a prominent role in the ability to successfully lobby. However, lobbying was not always like it is today.

Lobbying in the Early U.S.

As mentioned, lobbying originally referred to person-to-person interaction in the lobby where legislators created policy. At the start of the United States, lobbying was present, just as it is at the beginning of any political system. Additionally, the ability to lobby was, and still is, a part of the Constitution, since citizens have the right to petition. Since the beginning of the U.S., individuals began privately petitioning the government to influence policy decisions. This was usually an individual seeking some sort of aid through legislation, who lobbied the government behind the scenes. For most of the early period in the U.S., lobbying was discreet, informal, and not the wide ranging system it is today. Throughout the early 1800s, lobbying continued on its original course, and remained largely between individuals and government officials. In fact, the term "lobbyist" had not even been used to describe the act, until the mid-1800s, perhaps by president Grant, or slightly earlier. In the 1850s, a gunmaker bribed legislators, and later admitted to it. This was one of the few controversial lobbying incidents at the time, but did not profoundly change the landscape of lobbying. In 1876 however, the House of Representatives passed a bill that henceforth required lobbyists to register as such. This was the first step in bringing the notion of lobbying more into the public sphere and more regulated. The practice still remained highly informal and personal until the 1900s.

Change in the 1900s:

During the Gilded Age, the relationship between the public and government became a point of contention. Businesses and organizations were highly engaged with policy-makers, and the public viewed this as corruption. In 1907, lawmakers passed the Tillman Act, which banned companies from directly funding politicians. While initial steps were being taken to reduce the role of money in politics, there still remained few limits to lobbying, even as it continued to expand. However, the government took further steps to regulate lobbying in 1946, with the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act. This was an attempt to regulate and more adequately publicize the practice, allowing government officials to gain a better sense of who was lobbying them, and to curb the negative impacts and possible corruption. However, many lobbyists viewed the act as mostly symbolic and disregarded it, and it did not regulate monetary aspects of lobbying. The attempts to regulate the lobbying space came as new issues began taking hold in the U.S. The changing landscape of America after the Great Depression and World War II had opened up new issues for the public, who sought greater organization in order to ensure their needs were met. Lobbying continued under the status quo until the 1990s, when high-scale corruption changed the landscape once again. It was determined that a corporation had bribed government officials to gain government contracts. Thus, the government passed the Lobbying Disclosure Act in 1995, which reworked previous laws about lobbying to create a more distinct set of rules and regulations for the act.

Lobbying & The Iron Triangle:

In the 21st Century, lobbying has evolved. In the early 2000s, it became conflated with the ideas of bribery and corruption, with scandals such as the Abramoff Scandal, where powerful lobbyist Jack Abramoff was charged with bribery and embezzlement. In 2007, the government attempted to recover from this, and passed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act to increase transparency between lobbyists, government, and the public. Unlike in early America, lobbying today has become its own system. Lobbyists are no longer individuals seeking to fix their grievances by talking to politicians in person. Now, lobbying is largely impersonal, and dominated by corporations and interest groups with highly streamlined goals and specific methods of carrying them out. This allows for groups with more resources and money to have greater influence, and leaves smaller interest groups to advocate more on the local level, using public action to achieve their aims. As technology has changed, so has lobbying.

Today, lobbyists use social media and other forms of media as their main tools. Lobbying has also given way to the structure known as the "Iron Triangle." This describes the connection between the government, bureaucrats, and lobbyists. With each member interacting in a specific way with one another, it creates a functioning system of lobbying, that is difficult for smaller interest groups to crack. In this way, lobbyists use their resources to influence the bureaucrats in government, who are in turn able to influence the higher-up policymakers, who then can create policy that benefits the interest group. With the Iron Triangle, lobbyists get what they want- a certain favorable policy or law- and bureaucrats connect them to the policymakers in exchange for their own political interests being met, and the higher level politicians receive the support of a large contingency of people and powerful groups whose goals they are supporting. In this way, the system of lobbying is viewed by many Americans as corrupt. While it is a protected right under the Constitution, some now view lobbyists as bending the rules to get what they want, especially when they are large corporations who seem to be working alongside the government to achieve something. The current system still favors wealthy lobbyists, but with new forms of technology and media, and shift could occur, and the landscape could change as it has many times throughout U.S. history.

What are your thoughts on lobbying in the U.S.? Is it a corrupt practice, or is it still an important relationship between government and citizen?

Images:

https://loc.getarchive.net/media/lobbyists-taboo-at-capitol-washington-dc-jan-8-rep-alfred-m-phillips-dem-of

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23560963@N03/6374602403/

https://timelessmoon.getarchive.net/amp/media/wash-dc-cross-examiner-rep-frederick-r-lehlbach-r-of-nj-of-the-house-rules

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No_Lobbyists_Beyond_This_Point.jpg

Lobbying and the Iron Triangle

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What is Lobbying?

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