Lobbying-- A Business... Even For Nazis

The story about the Nazi Party getting its own lobbyist in DC probably looks weirder to anyone who hasn't read Ken Silverstein's hilariously brilliant book about the shocking corruption inherent in DC lobbying, Turkmeniscam. Otherwise Rachel Leven's report about the Nazis seems scandalous. Silverstein, though, quoted a K Street lobbyist saying, "As I have often said, I would represent the devil himself for the right price-- it’s not personal, just business."

And business it is. As of last year there were 12,654 registered lobbyists in Washington. They spent $3.31 billion dollars trying--usually very successfully-- to get Congress to do what their clients wanted done... and that was only in the 2011 calendar year. Since 1998 registered lobbyists have reported spending-- so this is only the legal stuff-- $33.64 billion. The giants have been in the fields of health care, finance (and insurance), communications and natural resources. And all of that money-- outrageously, a tax deductible expense-- is being spent as an investment by businesses eager to get the government to do something that doesn't serve the interests of the citizens of the country, but their own greed and avarice.

This year the biggest single recipient of lobbyist cash was-- no surprise here-- Willard "Mitt" Romney, someone the lobbyists are banking on for the future. He took in close to $800,000 already... and the campaign is just getting going! Ironically, the story in The Hill about the Nazis is a far more respectable kind of lobbying than the kind of lobbying that routinely makes Washington DC go round and round. As abhorrent as the Nazi ideology is-- and let's face it, even if most of it is indistinguishable from the standard Republican Party agenda these days, around the edges, Republicanism is still not the exact same thing as Nazism (even if the lines get blurrier and blurrier by the month)-- at least their lobbying efforts are about ideas not looting the country. The chief Nazi lobbyist is John Bowles and he's not any more embarrassed about being a Nazi than Paul Broun (R-GA) is.

Contacted by The Hill, Bowles said his lobbying activities would test lawmakers’ commitment to hearing all points of view.  

“You know, congressmen and congresswomen have always been telling the American public that they were open to other viewpoints,” Bowles said. “I’m going to see if they were sincere about that, or I’m going to call their bluff.”

...Asked why he associates himself with the ANP [American Nazi Party] rather than the National Socialist Movement, he said people in America do not understand what socialism is, while Nazism is well known.

“So [we] decided: Why don’t we just say what we are?” Bowles said.

“In the future, when we get people on the ballot, when people see the swastika on the ballot, they’ll know what they’re getting."

Bowles doesn’t think he’ll have a problem getting meetings on Capitol Hill, and said he’s not going to focus on racial issues or use “racial slurs,” but stick to facts. The first issue he said he’d like to tackle is making it easier for candidates from the ANP to run for office. 

Looks like the GOP may have some competition for their base voters in the future, although lobbyists like Jack Abramoff, who traffic on transferring corporate cash into the pockets of corrupt congressmen, have nothing to fear from the competition. And, let me reiterate one thing. If Congress-- both parties-- was serious about stopping the scandal of lobbying, they would take away the tax deductions. That they never will, should tell you something about your representative and senators.