I think one of the biggest issues bothering me lately is the
relationship between special interest groups and our government. As Madison
once wrote about, interest groups and factions are inevitable, but I believe
that it has indeed gotten out of hand.
It seems
like you can’t go anywhere without reading or hearing about some sort of
corruption between special interest groups and government agencies or
policies. Between regulatory capture and
what seems like a lack of accountability on both parties, it begs you to
wonder, “Who watches the watchmen”?
For
example, Michael Taylor is the senior advisor for the FDA (Food and
Drug Administration), which is a HUGE conflict of interest. As coined in this article, it’s like the fox
watching the henhouse. That isn’t the
only instance in which something like that has happened either. As seen by a
graph shown here, there are several former Monsanto executives that
have previously or currently are holding important government offices that are
in direct conflict of interest.
While this
is not the only example, not by a longshot, it is one that is near and dear to
my heart having spent most of my life in a rural farming town that has been affected
by Monsanto and the government. What
bothers me about this sort of behavior is that it does not at all have the “big
picture” best interests of our nation in mind. While it waves around that flag
of lobbying for the common man, it is doing just the opposite. Where integrity and morality are not part of
the game, but the upper hand goes to the highest bidders.
Don’t get
me wrong here, I am not saying at all that we should, or even that it’s
possible, to get rid of special interest groups and lobbyists. What I would really like to see happen is a
more stringent regulation on how the Iron Triangle interacts and
affects our nations policies. I want
more accountability and less ability for such conflict of interests to happen
between our government and corporations.
