by Phillip Christiansen

Created on: June 16, 2010   Last Updated: June 17, 2010

As much as I want to say “No” to lobbyists having access to elected officials I cannot.  The reason is a simple one, the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.  Additionally, America is a free society.  If the freedom to associate, the freedom to peaceably assemble, and the freedom to simply talk to whomever we want to is encroached upon, it can create a dangerous precedence that in the end will not solve the problem, and will erode our freedom. 

America is a democratically based federal republic.  Democracies only work if the voting public pays attention to politics and politicians.  America will only remain free as long as the voting public keeps an eye on the politicians, and only give them enough power to keep the engine of America running smoothly.  This means that the voting public is responsible for ensuring the politicians are only acting with their consent.

It is easy to say that we need another law to solve a problem.  It is easy to let someone else solve a problem.  However, when we as citizens of a democratically based nation with whom the power is supposed to reside, start giving it away so we do not have to be distracted from our leisure, our elected officials, just as children do, will run wild.  Consider what is happening today. 

The government is endlessly running deficit spending; our politicians are not paying their taxes, and faceless nameless government bureaucrats are making laws that impact us profoundly.  We, as citizens of a free nation, have let others “solve” our problems so that we did not have to be interrupted from our leisure.

The answer to solving our societal problems is not prohibiting lobbyists from associating with elected officials, no matter how despicable we may find it to be.  The answer is to start living our lives with principles and morals and demanding that our elected officials do so as well.  The answer is not letting our decisions be dictated by what is easy, but by what is right and wrong. 

By making something illegal that has a demand, a black market is inevitably created.  Just look at prohibition during the 1930’s.  Did that stop people from drinking?  In fact, what ended up happening is the mob became very powerful, wealthy and influential. 

Consider the “War on Drugs.”  (I am not making an argument for or against the legality of drugs; I am illustrating what happens

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