Chapter 4: Influencing Government: Food Lobbies and Lobbyists

I have mixed feelings about chapter four. As much as my kneejerk reaction is to hate big business, I realize that large corporations are the backbone of the American economy. In the same vein, whenever I hear the word lobbyist, I immediately think the adjectives "corrupt," or "evil." Lobbyists, however, are the driving force of policy creation and alteration. It seems difficult to me, and I believe congress would agree, to draw a line between legal and illegal lobbyist actions. After all, American capitalism puts those with money into power, so shouldn't the amount of political power one has be proportional to wealth? Ideally, I think policy should be developed in which corporations are only able to exert power in those issues which do not affect the health or well-being of the public. In terms of nutrition I mean issues affecting food safety, and, I admit, also issues of trans fat, saturated fat, sugar, artificial sweeteners and additives. If my idealism were to continue, it seems I would move to outlaw McDonald's. As you see, I'm quite conflicted about the issue of lobbyists.

A subject about which I am sure of my feelings is the so-called "Revolving Door." I do not understand how congress has failed to address such an undeniably glaring conflict of interest. While every public servant comes into office with certain amounts of bias, it seems ludicrous to me that high-level private sector business people can so easily slide into a government role. The only solution I can think of for this is to put a waiting period on those seeking to transition from private to public sector. Maybe something like the top 5% of title holders have to wait 2-3 years after ending their role as a high-power private sector businessperson before seeking public office. This also becomes a bit convoluted, but I feel that it is something which must be immediately addressed.