Ethiopian Review

There is no government that doesn’t demand tribute from those it rules. The French political philosopher Frederic Bastiat famously argued that all government is in essence organized theft. It can safely be said that government is the biggest, baddest gang in any gathering of humans. It decides everything and backs its decisions with armed force and legal coercion. It can put its subjects in jail and take away their property, lay down rules for behavior and punishments for those who break them. There doesn’t seem to be any way around this, since the alternative would be anarchy, and anarchy is attractive only in the abstract.

What’s been lost in the recent arguments over health care reform — which is now called health insurance reform for reasons I’ll clarify later — is just how much tribute those affected by the proposed legislation have to pony up to protect themselves.

The Washington Post reported in early July that “The nation’s largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues.” The story told of a recordbreaking effort during which the healthcare industry was/is spending $1.4 million in lobbying fees — every day. The notorious “revolving door” that sends, for example, people who worked for the government on health-reform issues on to lucrative jobs as advocates for Big Pharma and insurance companies is really on display in this monumental struggle to influence who is harmed and who is helped when the final legislative product is signed into law.

My favorite character in all this is former Louisiana Republican Congressman Billy Tauzin, who, as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has authority over the drug industry, five years ago shepherded the Medicare prescription drug bill through Congress, then did not run for re-election, instead taking a reported $2 million-a-year job as the chief lobbyist for, you guessed it, the pharmaceutical industry. Don’t you love it? The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which Billy Tauzin represents, spent $7 million on lobbying fees in just the first quarter of 2009.

Barack Obama promised to run an administration untainted by lobbyists, but that was just another meaningless campaign pledge, abandoned as soon as he won office, no doubt in part because official Washington is the above-mentioned revolving door between regulator and regulated, and if a president didn’t employ people who’ve worked as lobbyists, he wouldn’t be able to hire many experienced people.

Lobbying grows apace with the growth of government and is indeed something protected by the First Amendment. It is not something inherently evil, but rather a way to measure the power of our consolidated federal government. Furthermore, what an industry or a company spends on lobbying can be considered a bargain. One example cited in another Washington Post article was of a coalition of 60 corporations that spent $1.6 million in lobbying fees to “persuade” Congress to give them a special low tax rate on earnings from their foreign operations for one year. The persuasion worked, and the companies saved approximately $100 billion in taxes. That’s one helluva return on investment.

The stimulus package sparked a tremendous upsurge in K-Street lobbying firms’ income. The influence peddlers — who also help write the bills, and isn’t that cosy? — were stimulated quite nicely, unlike main street America. The battle over cap and trade and health care reform has further helped them. Aren’t you just thrilled?

So, when the president changes his phraseology from “health care reform” to “health insurance reform,” as he has, understand that he’s bowing to reality, that he has not only noticed the widespread public resistance to his original plan, but also that H.R. 3200 has grown to more than 1,000 pages of compromises and concessions because of the work of the lobbyists and the lawmakers they reward.

- By Ron Smith | Baltimore Sun