Every two, four, and six years the citizens of the United States of America take it upon themselves to elect their House members, president, and senators respectively. This gives the people an immense amount of power and influence within their government; however, it comes as a surprise that a whopping “78 percent of Americans…don’t trust [the government] most of the time” (Salvanto, CBS). A massive portion of this distrust is due to “perceived pandering and influence of lobbyists or special interests…and comprised about one in five answers” to the poll conducted (Salvanto). Two solutions to the issue of special interest influence in American politics would be to first, to halt private institutions from fueling political campaigns with direct
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In fact, “in 2012, organized interest groups spent $3.5 billion annually lobbying” and PACs had invested “approximately $1.55 billion in campaign contributions,” added together that is 5.05 billion dollars from companies and special interest groups to their favored candidate or favored legislation (Raphel). This incredible amount of money has one simple goal, determining the outcome of elections and legislation. Many Americans feel that these companies essentially buyout elections and legislators in order to further along their financial gain. The best way to prevent this travesty is to eliminate private contributions toward elections and to force politicians to raise money from the public. This way, officials are compelled pander to what they should, the majority of citizens, rather than a select group of millionaires and billionaires. In addition, formulating a law that ensures that lobbying is illegal would halt much of the control that corporations have over the United States’ political system, as this would stop officials from receiving gifts and arranging deals with big business representatives. Hence, with large company contributions out of the way, citizens may feel that their representatives would be more likely to listen to their …show more content…
With so much money floating around Washington, D.C. many individuals are left wondering where Congressmen and Congresswomen receive their vast amounts of monetary gain. This mystery ultimately leads to distrust and doubt amongst the people. According to CNN, big spenders pour ridiculous amounts of money into lobbying, the top ten lobbying companies of 2009 include: “General Electric (GE): $134 million, AT&T: (T, Tech30) $91.2 million, Boeing Co (BA): $90.3 million, Northrop Grumman (NOC): $87.9 million, Comcast Corp (CMCSA): $86.4 million, Verizon Communications: (VZ, Tech30) $86.4 million, FedExCorp (FDX): $85.7 million, Exxon Mobil (XOM): $85 million, Lockheed Martin (LMT): $78.8 million, Pfizer (PFE): $77.8 million,” with all this currency in circulation, citizens have come to doubt that politicians formulate their decisions based on what’s best for the common man and now believe that politicians make decisions based on what’s best for their bank accounts (Solomon). As a result, allowing the population to view just where all this vast amount of wealth was flowing has the potential to create more awareness amongst society of what their elected officials are conspiring. Additionally, this system could possibly convince office holders to be
In fact, “in 2012, organized interest groups spent $3.5 billion annually lobbying” and PACs had invested “approximately $1.55 billion in campaign contributions,” added together that is 5.05 billion dollars from companies and special interest groups to their favored candidate or favored legislation (Raphel). This incredible amount of money has one simple goal, determining the outcome of elections and legislation. Many Americans feel that these companies essentially buyout elections and legislators in order to further along their financial gain. The best way to prevent this travesty is to eliminate private contributions toward elections and to force politicians to raise money from the public. This way, officials are compelled pander to what they should, the majority of citizens, rather than a select group of millionaires and billionaires. In addition, formulating a law that ensures that lobbying is illegal would halt much of the control that corporations have over the United States’ political system, as this would stop officials from receiving gifts and arranging deals with big business representatives. Hence, with large company contributions out of the way, citizens may feel that their representatives would be more likely to listen to their …show more content…
With so much money floating around Washington, D.C. many individuals are left wondering where Congressmen and Congresswomen receive their vast amounts of monetary gain. This mystery ultimately leads to distrust and doubt amongst the people. According to CNN, big spenders pour ridiculous amounts of money into lobbying, the top ten lobbying companies of 2009 include: “General Electric (GE): $134 million, AT&T: (T, Tech30) $91.2 million, Boeing Co (BA): $90.3 million, Northrop Grumman (NOC): $87.9 million, Comcast Corp (CMCSA): $86.4 million, Verizon Communications: (VZ, Tech30) $86.4 million, FedExCorp (FDX): $85.7 million, Exxon Mobil (XOM): $85 million, Lockheed Martin (LMT): $78.8 million, Pfizer (PFE): $77.8 million,” with all this currency in circulation, citizens have come to doubt that politicians formulate their decisions based on what’s best for the common man and now believe that politicians make decisions based on what’s best for their bank accounts (Solomon). As a result, allowing the population to view just where all this vast amount of wealth was flowing has the potential to create more awareness amongst society of what their elected officials are conspiring. Additionally, this system could possibly convince office holders to be