Customer Reviews

The Buying of the Congress

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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While I agree with the notion that there are likely plenty of congressmen who are "bought off" by special interests with cash-rich lobbies, this book has an obvious statist bias that made it difficult to get through the whole thing.

The book never addresses the fundamental causal issue in judging whether someone has been unduly influenced by a contribution. To wit: How can we tell if 1) a legislator has voted for X because he got money from a group supporting X or 2) if a group supporting X wisely give money to a legislator likely to support X? This may seem trivial, but it is the heart of the matter since the difference determines if a vote was due to conscience or corruption. Compounding the problem, Lewis seems to assume that for every problem, there is a solution in law or regulation that would fix it and anyone opposing that solution is corrupt. What if there are just going to be some dangerous things in life and it isn't the government's job to provide us with an idiot-proof, Nerf world in which to live?

In addition, the book is very politically one-sided in its choice of examples. That is, there are more than a dozen chapters on big corporations with lobbies concerned with environmental laws, FDA regulations, et cetera (and the cliche diatribes against the NRA). But there is no mention of left-leaning groups like AARP, the trial lawyers, trade unions, teachers, et cetera who wield plenty of influence on the Hill. I would never claim that plenty of big companies don't do their best to buy votes, but the focus on traditionally Democratic groups buying legislation is conspicuous in its absence.

On behalf of the book, I will say that *within* any particular arena, the author goes out of his way to point to suspicious activities by both Republicans and Democrats. And, rather than explicitly suggesting new campaign laws, he promotes voter vigilance. Of course the examples cited are very enticing (if inconclusive) and if they prompt people to pay more attention to Congressional goings-on then Lewis will have done everyone a service.

- Mike B.

My topic line says it all. We've all heard and followed the stories about how Congress is beholden to special interests, and how they have in turn done favors for various industries in return. However, this book puts it all together in a way that has really upset me. And yet it is not a sensational cheap book. Per the Acknowledgements section of page 351 ff, it was a huge team project of the Center For Public Integrity involving 10 writers and 25 researchers. And the Center has written and published a number of books during the past 8 years, so they didn't start fresh in researching the topics covered.

The book should be distributed to all high school and college students as an introduction to the world of realpolitik. Given the sodden apathy of American adults, it may be that our only hope for radical change lies in their children.

In life, you're either predator or prey. Why break the law pillaging outright? That's for suckers! You can use the law for legal plunder! Congress gets a million blank checks that the taxpayer will eventually be forced to pay. As long as you cut your representatives in on a piece of the action, you can steal millions! I'm kind of late getting started. I just hope that I can get some kind of no-bid or cost-plus contract before the system totally collapses...