Remember how Comcast and NBC were merging, and there was all kinds of controversy about it? I’m still not entirely sure what I think the deal itself, except that Comcast has a maddening monopoly on internet access in some areas (including where we used to live in Baltimore) and NBC is one of the hemorrhaging media empires. What absolutely disgusts me, however, is news like this: Only four months after approving the merger, Meredith Attwell Baker is heading to a convenient position at Comcast, where she will be “senior vice president for government affairs.” This kind of revolving door in our government is revolting.
It continually happens all across government (and political party), most recently with a former RIAA judge being appointed as a federal judge to rule on filesharing cases, of all things. Funny, one of the things Obama promised was that he would close this door and stop the steady stream of officials being rewarded with cushy jobs for corrupting our government for the benefit of corporations. These days that feels more like political sleight-of-hand than anything worth believing.
Our government is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people, and despite what the Supreme Court seems to think re: Citizens United, corporations are not people. As necessary as they may be, they are dangerous, predatory organizations from which the government should be protecting its people, not bending over backwards to help. It’s difficult to have much respect for our government when the people making decisions and writing our laws are so blatantly acting not in the public’s best interest, but for clear personal reward from their paymasters.
I think that we need to insist that our leaders seriously address this issue. Personally, I believe that lobbying activity of any kind should be a criminal offense, especially for members of Congress. The only reason anybody should be speaking with members of Congress is as a member of their constituency. No corporate representatives or high-powered lobbying firms, just concerned citizens speaking with the person ostensibly elected to represent them. Is it too much to ask for “we the people” to be more than an anachronism?