Lobbying & Special Interests Quotes

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people

You can get from a politician whatever you demand in this country. The great irony is that everybody complains about how it runs but not enough people direct their force and power directly at the politicians and make demands upon them. Ours is a system that abhors remoteness. If you're remote from this political system, it'll kill you.

Self-interest speaks all sorts of tongues and plays all sorts of characters, even that of disinterestedness

… the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

The lobbyists are a kind of permanent other government.

I noticed that the highly organized lobbies in Washington were producing results regardless of the justice or injustice of their demand.

Lobbynomics

We want political power in our country for our philosophy of life. This means we've got to get involved more and more in politics.

Lobbying is just another form of advocacy. It’s like trying a lawsuit.

Those who have lobbyists are more likely to get what they want …. Those who have more money [to spend on lobbying] are more likely to prevail.

On streets where statesmen once strolled, a never-ending stream of money now changes hands—tying the hands of those elected to lead.

... corporate power ... is not only economic—the ability to set prices without regard to market pressures or to manipulate consumer demand. It is also political—the ability to use the public government to obtain private economic goals. Corporate power means the ability of big corporations to have more than their fair share of influence over the decisions of government.

Political lobbying is like propositioning women. You get slapped a lot of times, but then you get some ‘yeses’ as well.”

Who do you have coming to see you about the subsidies? Business people, no one else.

The wisdom of the few may be the light of mankind, but the interest of the few is not the profit of mankind, nor of a commonwealth.

The existence of an immensely powerful military-industrial complex constitutes a danger to democracy, both internationally and domestically, because it follows its own logic and operates independently of popular participation.

Two thousand years of painful experiences have forced us into round-the-clock political activity.

... the trouble is, once you give in to a Voting Bloc, you become an addict. Just about every politician in New York is a political junkie.

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.

One of the lessons I think nearly all women need to learn, is, that when we are dealing with busy people, no matter how much interested we may be in a subject, we must put what we have to say in the briefest possible form. This is even more important if the person to whom we are talking is listening because of our interest and not because of his own. We may be able to impart some of our enthusiasm to him, if we do not first bore him to death and make him impatient because he is being asked to listen to too many words.

We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world – no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men

As one voice must labor speak—to reward its friends and punish its enemies.

Not all special interest groups are bad.

What do Saddam Hussein and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle have in common? Neither man wants America to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

It is very important at this juncture to eliminate the influence of big money and special interests in politics.