I have gotten into the habit of writing frequent letters and emails to my elected officials. Particularly to my congressmen and senators, as these folks are apparently supposed to be the ones making the most amount of difference for me and my state.

One thing that I have noticed in doing this… is that none of them ever admit to having an opinion of their own. Most of the time when they do respond, they are incredibly polite, saying things like … ‘your opinion matters greatly to me, and I want to assure you that I take every bit of input I receive seriously.’ … or ‘I am aware of (insert bill, law, or other serious matter here), and how important it is to people just like you.’ Polite… but lacking substance.

It strikes me that there are perhaps just so many laws and bills being written every day… some of them as lengthy as a best selling novel…(but no where near as page turning!) that it is improbable that any single senator or congressman / woman could ever keep up with them all, let alone actually understand what they mean to the ‘good citizens of the state of Tennessee’. Even with a large staff of aides available to them, I wonder how these folks can even be expected to keep up with studying the ‘cliff notes’ versions of volumes like the Patriot Act, nevermind taking the time to actually read the entire thing in the amount of time they are given before it goes to vote.

Perhaps campaign money is not the sole motivator for why politicians give so much voice to lobbyists. Maybe it’s just easier? Possibly lobbyists are just more organized, with more information, however biased, to justify a decision? I’m sure that the money doesn’t hurt either. Maybe a politician has discernment similar to a dog’s sense of taste… where they can’t distinguish between subtle flavors of opinion… and can only tell the difference between ‘good’, ‘bad’, and ‘mediocre’. When presented with a large number of things to eat… it seems that the politician will pick the shit that smells the most, even if it’s still shit?

I sometimes wonder in which pile I would find the letters I send them…

I found a good example of how this whole thing probably works when I started researching my state’s DTC (Direct to consumer) laws for the purchase and shipment of wine from out of state. There is a bill that is supposed to be going into sub-committee March 5th, and I had a television reporter who wanted to interview me to get my thoughts on that bill. Unfortunately I had not read it. In fact… I had a really difficult time finding it, and when I did finally manage to find the actual bill… I had even more difficulty decoding it in order to figure out if it actually benefited the consumer or not. I, probably much like our political leaders… could not tell the difference between a bill that was ‘good’, ‘bad’ … or ‘mediocre’, due in large part to the fact that it was probably written by some ivy league bar association professor wannabe.

So… I called an organization who I know agrees with my beliefs on the matter of DTC laws… and I literally asked them… ‘what is my opinion of this bill?’ They were able to give me my opinion because not only had they read it… but they had read 100s like it. Heck, they’ve even written one as an example that they give to politicians to use! A whole lot easier than getting a law degree, wouldn’t you say?

I guess what concerns me is that many of these lobbyists have agendas that are not really in line with the people of the districts that many of these politicians come from. Organizations like the NRA (National Rifle Association) for example (and I am personally an NRA member), probably don’t do very well with the majority of the people of California, while PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) probably do poorly in states with a high production of meat product like Texas. Does that stop either organization from lobbying across state lines, trying to buy political influence? No way.

I would hope that our hired leaders would be able to tell the difference and vote for the people of their state rather than for a lobby… but I’m not entirely convinced. Bringing up DTC (Direct to Consumer) wine laws in my own state again… the Wine Wholesaler’s Lobby has padded the wallets of our local politicians for years… even though it’s more than obvious that the majority of Tennessee consumers (the folks who put leaders in position?) want the freedom and choice to buy wine when and where they want it.

We have another similar situation with this stupid 300 acre ‘Bible USA’ theme park that is supposed to be put in my back yard. I don’t know anyone who actually lives here who wants it… but the politicians apparently think it’s wonderful, as does the multi-millionaire from New York who’s building it. I’ll give you one guess which side wins.