We all know what DUI is. It's driving under the influence of intoxicating beverages and/or recreational drugs.
What about GUI? I'm not referring to the computer tech term 'graphical user interface'. I'm talking about . . .
GOVERNING UNDER THE INFLUENCE.
Our elected officials currently make decisions which dramatically impact our lives, and fatefully determine the direction of our country. They do this under many "influences".
In 2023, there were 12,937 registered lobbyists in Washington DC. That's 24 per congressperson. In 2024, the total amount of money spent by lobbyists topped $4 billion. Money talks, our legislators walk. Or dance. Or do whatever they're told to do.
In 2024, defense industry contractors spent about $111 million lobbying Congress. This resulted in the award of $765 billion in contracts. Not a bad ROI, eh?
Big Pharma and the overall health services sector spent $293,701,614 for lobbying in 2024. In the not so recent past, one of the master strokes of the pharmaceutical industry was getting Congress to shield vaccine makers from most types of liability lawsuit s. Vaccines, of course, are their most profitable product line. Persistence pays! Especially when coupled with generous campaign contributions.
Wall Street, big banks, hedge funds should have their own building in our nation's capitol. Maybe right next door to Congress itself. We saw what happened during the 2008 financial meltdown. It was big banks and investors at the table -- and on the dole -- not labor unions or community organizations. Trillions went to the banks to bail them out. 21 million regular citizens lost their homes.
Big oil and big gas spent $110 million in 2024 lobbying Congress. Occidental Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, and Exxon Mobil are the biggest spenders. They successfully push for new drilling, lax regulation of their current drilling, and to position themselves to profit from new "green" technologies like carbon capture. I guess we could call it their strategy for 'Congress capture'.
Big Tech spent $61.5 million in 2024 for lobbying. The big rage currently is getting government to pay for AI research and infrastructure. We have Elon Musk as a key player in the new administration. We couldn't help but notice that in addition to Musk, Mark Zuckerberg (CEO, Meta), Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon), and Sundar Pichai (CEO, Google) were front and center at Trump's inauguration.
Special interest groups understandably swarm like locusts everywhere in Washington DC. AIPAC is by far the most powerful. In addition to promoting pro-Israel policies and legislation, they are directly involved in individual campaigns. In 2022, AIPAC was a decisive factor in 363 House races (out of 435), and 26 Senate races (out of 34). Fear by incumbents of AIPAC is palpable. Get on the wrong side of the Jewish lobby means certain death for your political career.
Finally, we might also toss in think tanks as influencers. I prefer to use the term 'groupthink tanks'. Many of them are funded by the defense industries and other government contractors to promote initiatives which will swell their coffers. Some are funded by the government to tell government officials what they want to hear, putting an "objective", outside PR spin on questionable, flawed policies generated from within. It's a closed loop to keep in place a lot of what shouldn't be there in the first place.
To be blunt about it, the result of all this GUI is . . . FUI. That's right. 'F' you and I. While the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful, the quality of life for the vast majority of Americans continues to decline. American society itself slowly unravels.
GUI is an intoxication not unlike DUI. I guess that's what 'drunk on power' means. But let's not forget who gets to step up to the bar and who is consigned to foraging through the dumpster behind the "club".
With 'governing under the influence' now the operating principle of our pay-for-play politicians, the one "influencer" whose power is never in play anymore -- thought it's mandated in the Constitution -- is we the people. Yes, it's we everyday Americans, who lacking any real choice at the polls, voted the current puppets into power. As regular citizens, we have been rendered powerless.
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