On both sides of the Atlantic there are fierce struggles. These struggles involve diametrically opposed groups who passionately believe that they are righteous in their cause, that they alone speak in the true interest of the people and that if the other side were to win, the apocalypse would surely ensue. So, there’s a lot at stake in the US Health Care debate and the Irish Lisbon referendum (the second Lisbon referendum, in case you weren’t counting).
While the issues themselves are discussed in plentiful detail, the forces behind the opposing groups have not yet been investigated, or at least not as fully as they should be.
The concept of lobbying has been in existence for a long time now. Businessmen and interest groups have long exerted their influence over the governing bodies of their day. In Ireland and the US, lobbying groups throw money at polticians to influence them while purporting to be exercising their right to free speech. Their case is that if they can make their voices heard then why shouldn’t they? Whose to stop them? The problem with this formula is that it is patently unfair to those who do not have huge sums of money to throw at polticians to get their voices heard.
Also, lobbyists rarely argue from a purely conscientious point of view. They represent interest goups which, more often than not, are acting to ensure that when important decisions are made, they have the ear of the decision-maker thus ensuring that their profit margin won’t be trimmed.
Pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies are the main players in the fight against Obamacare. Their scare tactics and funding of right wing groups has put the independent voter in a state of fear and uncertainty. From “death panels for Grandma” to Obama as the second coming of Stalin, the lobbyists have lowered the tone of the debate and may have sealed the fate of Obama’s public health care option. True, there are many in America who genuinely believe that more Government control in health care is the antithesis of the American mantra of freedom and liberty for all. But there are also 46.5 million Americans, most of them poor and minorities, who would appreciate some Government assistance when Grandma falls ill. In that light it’s not unreasonable to say that any lobbyist who claims, with a straight face, that Obama will make euthanasia mandatory if Grandma isn’t a viable patient, is doing so under false pretences.
The problem is that politics is an expensive business. Campaigning costs money. Barack Obama spent almost a billion dollars on his Presidntial campaign and not all of that money came from his posse of true believers. So, when corporate groups donate to a campaign aren’t they ensuring that their interests will be considered during the term of the donee? It is nigh on impossible to seriously compete in such elections without corporate sponsorship. Thus the notion of a politician being bought and paid for becomes a reality.
The Lisbon campaign is not immune from this. Declan Ganley’s Libertas party has been the subject of much speculation, partcularly regarding its funding. Rumours became widespread that the CIA and the Pentagon were both funding Libertas as they saw a united and militarised European Union as a serious threat to US hegemony. Two admirals of the US Navy sit on the board of Ganley’s communications company Rivada Networks and the same company provides military equipment and intelligence to the US miltary. Ganley has also written papers for a conservative American think tank which espouses US imperialism.
And so the struggles continue on either side of the Atlantic. Campaign money comes from undisclosed sources but the sources make sure they get their two cents. Scare tactics become the norm and the public is left disillusoned and distrustful, being deprived of a reasoned and mature debate.
In the end, money talks.
