Washington's version of a perpetual motion machine

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Feb 19, 2008 at 13:07:08 PM MST

And why wouldn't ex-lawmakers and aides gravitate to K Street? Lobbying jobs pay at least twice and sometimes three times government salaries. Serving in government is now viewed by many on Capitol Hill as a steppingstone to a lucrative career in bending government to the whims of paying clients. In many ways, lobbying now mimics the government it targets. It has become a bureaucracy, with its own language, its own peculiar ways of doing business and, most important, its own instinct to survive.

Indeed, the last thing any lobbyist wants is to win everything his or her client is seeking. That would mean an end to a retainer, the closing of the feedbag. Success for a lobbyist is not outright victory but, rather, just enough progress to justify the creation of an elaborate and well-funded lobbying apparatus. Even outright failure can underscore the need to lobby harder.

Lobbying is Washington's version of a perpetual motion machine. Once it gets revved up, it rarely stops running. In fact, it tends to grow.

Nice story, written around the travel industry's attempt to get the federal government to foot a $200 million bill to conduct advertising across the globe in order to attract more tourists to the country.

In short, this is what you get in a society where the merit of your ideas is based on how much money you spend, not on the quality of your arguments.