Author: kg4vma

lobbying

The following was originally published as a class assignment:

How does lobbying work in government? Please use examples.

Include citations or URLs for your work to receive full credit. Post your response before Friday, and reply to the posts of at least two of your classmates before Sunday midnight.

To lobby the government is to attempt to present a concern or group of concerns to various individual or groups of legislators. Lobbyists can be individuals representing the public, civic groups, or business; there are also professional lobbyists that perform the communication between the individuals/groups and the legislators. Lobbyists can represent themselves in a public forum and/or have a single representative for private meetings with the legislators being lobbied. Lobbying can occur at any level of government and even within government houses with lower legislators attempting to appeal to the higher levels of government.

Lobbying has gotten negative attention over the years as many legislators have been influenced by lobbyists for a cause through the use of gifts and donations to campaign funds. To combat these negative practices there have been many resolutions passed to regulate lobbying practices. One of the most recent acts involving lobbying is the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. This act calls for punishment of former legislators abusing their privileges of visiting Congress for the purposes of lobbying. The act also changed how lobbying reports are disclosed by increasing the frequency of reports and lowering the amounts required to be reported for political contributions.

References

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (PL 110-81, 14 September 2007) 121 Stat 735. Retrieved 25 Oct. 2011 from: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-110publ81/pdf/PLAW-110publ81.pdf

[…sorry, can’t afford to go long-winded on this one… may do a complete revision later this week, if time allows.]

The following responses came from this forum posting:

Prof. Keith Carlson:
Are there any situations where lobbying is a good thing?

my reply:
…it’s all a matter of perspective, honestly.

…any person has the right to raise a concern with their government over an issue which they see to be unfair or wrong in some way. This person may also recruit others who feel the same way, so that there can then be a louder communal voice representing the cause. This newly formed group can seek out other groups of people sharing the same view and create a movement. The movement can then get greater attention and have stronger power in lobbying the government for change.

…this can be a good thing.

Women’s suffrage. Racial equality. These two issues are, for the most part, seen as good examples of how positive lobbying can be. The reason why these issues show cause for lobbying being a “good thing” is that we agreed on these issues.

…I do not dare go into giving any other examples as I do not know which way the compass points for the rest of the class…

…but, in my opinion lobbying is (almost) always a good thing as it has the potential of raising discussion.

Ryan McFarland:
Jeremiah, thank you for introducing that acts are now put in place to regulate lobbying. I did not know of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. It is interesting how people can be bought for as little as support in a campaign. What is our country coming to? What is the punishment for indivisuals who abuse their privileges?

Michael Baker:
Hi Jeremiah,

Nice post!, The Honest Leadership Act is interesting and I think it is very important in improving politics and accountability. I think with these acts, it will help curve bribery in politics which influences another party or organization to overlook the rules or
boundaries, rather than working with them. Bribery is the act of giving favor to someone in power so that your work gets done. It can be said without any doubt that bribery in no way is ethical or moral and it cannot hold grounds.

Resource Cited:
Encarta (, 2009). Define Bribery. Retrieved from http://www.bing.com/dictionary.

i missed my internets…

Of course, once I noticed that the service was turned on, I immediately hopped on the Internet and got to work catching up on a TON of stuff that I have fallen behind on–it’s been two or three months since I’ve been completely online. I’ve been re-syncing my photos and documents, uploading “new” home movies, downloading updates, researching some software–and watching vids related to software…

…and here, in the middle of all that, I think, “hey, I wonder what speeds I’m getting…”

…I really should’ve checked out the speed before I opened so many connections… but, anyway… here’s what speedtest is telling me:

My tweets

we spent a portion of the night, tonight, watching old home movies of Linda's. i really can't explain the feeling that the experience has left me with. feelings, rather. heck, i don't know.

there were times that i smiled.

there were times i felt sadness.

there were times i simply felt depressed.

i think the most confusing emotions were those that i felt in viewing videos of Jade.

i feel like i had a hand in that. i feel like i could've. i feel like i might've been able to save her. i feel like there's nothing i could've done. i don't know what i feel.

…all that i do know is that i entered diana's life when i think she needed it.

…and i've tried to help.

…and still, i feel–i know that in several ways–that i have failed.

i'm afraid of doing more harm.

i pray that i won't.

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

My tweets

…shootin' at the walls of (religious divide); BANG! BANG! I am the warrior…

The following was originally posted in response to a classroom forum:

Forum 2: For credit, post a response (of approximately 200 words) to the topic below and to at least two other classmates of 100 words.

1. The Anglo-Saxon Period in literature begins to merge an ancient warrior past with a new awareness of religion. What evidence of these influences do you see in the readings from this packet?


The best examples of the mixing of Christian and varied pagan beliefs that I can see lie in the tales of Beowulf and the Dream of the Rood.

In Beowulf we read of a king who is serving of his people and fearless of his travels in far lands with varied spirits and elves abound. Obviously our strong heroic leader and adventurous exploits are familiar of the pagan faiths. Yet, there is also mention of God and and his divine creation of the world; elements which are undeniably Christian. Further, we might be able to make some sort of a tie between Beowulf and Christ, though no mention was made of the Savior. Telling of how mighty the king was, and how he helped his people and bore faith in the troubled times, battling evil might easily sway someone to see how a heroic and noble savior of earth could be able to rise above. If one could have faith in this story, then one could have faith in the Christian stories.

The Rood applied persuasion in a similar manner to Beowulf. In the Rood, we here the telling of the Crucifixion; further we hear the telling from the viewpoint of an element of nature—an item which a pagan could easily see as being as alive spiritually as man. We are told of how Christ—an almost every-man, yet something more—bore such terrible inflictions from his evil captors. We see Christ as a hero—a man who should be honored and worshiped for the pains and suffering inflicted upon him in our names. This piece helps show how older selfless acts leading to martyrdom still exist in this new religion, and that the greatest martyr for the cause is the son of God.

These stories are quite successful in mixing and selling the concepts of Christianity to people of pagan faiths.