So damn much money : the triumph of lobbying and the corrosion of American government / Robert G. Kaiser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaiser, Robert G., 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lobbying--Corrupt practices--United States.

Lobbying.

United States. Congress--Ethics.

United States.

United States. Congress.

Ethics.

Political corruption--United States.

Political corruption.

Lobbying--Corrupt practices.

Cassidy, Gerald S. J.

United States--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

x, 398 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

Summary:

The story of the monumental growth of lobbying in Washington, D.C., and how it undermines effective government and pollutes our politics. Washington journalist Robert G. Kaiser explains how and why, over the last four decades, Washington became a dysfunctional capital. Special interests use campaign contributions and lobbyists to influence government decisions, and congressional candidates need money to pay for their increasingly expensive campaigns. This has created a mutually reinforcing relationship between special interests and elected representatives, leading to a new class in Washington, wealthy lobbyists whose careers often begin in public service. Kaiser shows us how behavior by public officials that was once considered corrupt or improper became commonplace, how special interests became the principal funders of elections, and how our biggest national problems--health care, global warming, and the looming crises of Medicare and Social Security, among others--have been ignored as a result.--From publisher description.

Contents:

A scandal for our time

Looking down on the Capitol

The art of self-invention

A Washington that worked

A new kind of business

Corrupt or correct?

Earmarks become routine

A great awakening

A marriage unravels

"Would that be proper?"

A money machine

Disaster averted

Tricks of the lobbying trade

The new technology of politics

Disorder in the House

Becoming a conglomerate

Influencing policy for profit

Public service, private rewards

Radical ends, radical means

Cash cow on the Potomac

Elections bought and sold

Politics, then government

Hard times

A corroded culture.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [365]-377) and index.

ISBN:

9780307266545

0307266540

OCLC:

229026777