While I may not agree with everything you say, we see eye to eye on this issue. Neither party is truly "For the People", or their best interests. More like what's best for special interest groups.
Slinky... I don't disagree with your sentiment... I, too, see eye to eye on that. At the risk of stirring an already bubbling pot, however, I will comment on your last statement WRT "Special Interest Groups" because their demonization as the 'root of all evil' I think is a symptom of the bigger problem that we all face, which is trying to over-simplify a really complex problem or assign a single point of failure to blame for our ills. Are "Special Interests" what we should be concerned about? Well, let me ramble a bit...
To frame the question we first have to ask "what is a special interest group?" It's a group of people who have gotten together to support or lobby their personal, pet or "special" interest. It may be gun control or pro-second-amendment. It could be for insurance or prescription drugs or mothers against driving drunk or farming or condo-building or world peace or legal weed... Every tiny slice of America... every individual, in fact, has their own special interests. Their own passions, windmills to tilt, dislikes, likes and, yes, even profit motives. Every individual has their own unique set of special interests.
What we don't all have as individuals is the time or the inclination to go and talk to our representative, senator, state rep, governor, president, etc. on a regular basis and about what's on our minds. I can't go to Washington every time there is a discussion, hearing or vote or whenever I want to say something. Nor can most of us. I can't even absorb the scope and scale of the complex laws, rules and regulations that may affect my personal 'interests.' I can't spend all my time watching federal, state, local, regional lawmaking and regulation that might affect my personal set of interests and passions. Nor do the elected folks have the ability to listen to the cacophony of voices that flow in thanks to modern instant media, the number of issues they address, or the size of the population.
So what do we do? We organize into groups. Special Interest Groups. And we pay them dues or memberships or make donations to them... and they go represent our interests in DC or our statehouse or the town hall. The special interests... are us! So if you belong to the NRA... you are a special interest. If you are in a union... special interest. In the military? You have special interest groups lobbying for your welfare, whether you know it or not. AARP member? Special interest. Do you belong to a trade or professional association? Special interest. Even if you live completely off the grid... you probably have a special interest representing you. In fact, I would suggest that each reader of this little tome take a moment and think about what Special Interest groups you belong to or support. I bet we all have several in our closets.
The short version is that we all have special interests. We seek out the groups that will carry our messages to "on high". And, as a rule, we generally like our own special interest groups (or at least consider them benign) while decrying the special interests we don't like and blaming them for bad things happening to us. While no one here probably thinks much of Handgun Control, Inc., there is likely a lot more support for the NRA, SAAMI, JPFO and other groups working to preserve (and expand) firearms rights.
This also brings up the whole 'corporation as special interest' argument. Because corporate America is also very-represented as a special interest. But, again, what is a corporation? It's an entity made up of workers (who get paychecks and jobs... so they have an interest in the success of IBM or MetLife or McDonalds) and owners... generally shareholders. There is no vampiresque Montgomery Burns in reality... and referring to a corporate entity in those terms is also an over-simplification by those who want to hold the evil coroprationany corporations responsible for all bad things.
Also remember, if you have a pension fund... you are a shareholder. If you have a 401K or mutual fund, you own pieces of corporations. Even if you have an internally-funded pension from your employer... that pension fund is undoubtedly growing because it is invested in corporations. YOU are the shareholder. So in the modern economy the line between worker and owner is hopelessly blurred. (John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath has a wonderful chapter on "who owns the bank" early in the book... wonderful read.) The result is that a corporation representing its interests to grow, profit and return investment to its shareholders is a special interest, But it's not just operating in a vacuum...
Again, through the entity that is a corporation, we are being represented as a special interest! You want your 401K to grow, so the special interests who lobby for hedge funds... are representing your desire to retire comfortably. The corporate entity provides jobs, buys raw-material from suppliers and produces goods that their customers can sell at a profit... are all special interests that represent far more than a single point entity. Everyone up and down the supply chain from miner to retail store owner has a special interest not only in their mine or Minimart... but in the success of the whole supply chain. And they're represented... by a network of special interest groups.
Last, even if the Special Interests 'were' the problem... they're still protected speech... with exceptions to prevent bribery, influence peddling, etc. which have been determined to cross the line between 'representing the views of the American People' and 'buying votes.' (And this line continues to be examined... and is a source of much gnashing of teeth. I won't go there). That said, when you send a check into your favorite club, organization or charity... you are choosing to pay for representation rather than get in a car or pick up a phone and represent yourself. You are buying influence, even if it's only with a $20 check to AAA or the National Association of Lawn Care Professionals. Again, We are the Special Interests. WE are paying for our voices to be heard.
All that said... I completely agree with your sentiments, Slinky. And, personally, my own 'oversimplification' of the situation is that the problem isn't the cacophony of voices created by our own (competing) special interests...
My personal windmill to tilt stems from my opinion that we are gradually evolving a ruling political class, which was something the founders feared. This political class is being groomed at places like Harvard, Yale and Columbia... and we now see political power being handed from generation to generation instead of acting as 'citizen legislators' who are called to serve, give back, then return to our lives having done our bit. Unfortunately, and this is my opinion, is that the governing process now reflects an 'old boys and girls' network that makes Edwardian England look like the Soviet Komsomol. Again for a good read on the subject, Andrew J. Bacevich's "Washington Rules" is very fun to read while it also provokes some deep thinking on the complexity of the situation. (Bacevich, by the way, has basically written the 'same book' several times... he is a bit of a one-trick pony, intellectually. That does not prevent him from being, if not right, at least a guy who reflects a lot of my own personal views and prejudices. Totally worth reading, IMHO)
Anyway, not trying to stir the pot. Just trying to remind us all that one of the reasons we have gotten into what I'll unabashedly refer to as "this mess" is that we try and apply simple fixes to complex problems; look for evil entities or conspiracies where there are none; and accept what we are told instead of seeking to learn. And one of the reasons I love SH is that there are a lot of people here who are pretty darn smart and ask tough questions and provide some interesting points of view. Y'all give me hope for America.
Thanks, Slinky, for a thought-provoking post and an excuse to rant a bit on a Saturday morning.
Cheers,
Sirhr