THE REAL CRIME

During the Watergate scandal, it always struck me as ironic that the crime Nixon was most castigated for was the cover-up. Certainly that act was illegal and unethical, and probably the most prosecutable crime, but not the most serious. When the White House burglars broke into Democratic headquarters, the real crime they were committing was treason. This wasn’t just “dirty tricks” or document theft, it was an attempt to undermine the fundamental democratic process, the structure of government, and that is a crime against the state.

It occurs to me that the lobby industry does pretty much the same thing. Political candidates tell the voters where they stand on the issues and (theoretically) how they will vote. The winners are sent to Washington to do as they promised, but before they can do so they are overwhelmed by a heavily financed team of lobbyists. The irony of course is that lobbyists defend their activities under the banner of free speech. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lobbyists are paid influence peddlers, nothing more nothing less. Their job is to undermine the democratic process by putting the needs of their employers ahead of the needs of the voters. It’s time we made this practice illegal.