I just finished So Damn Much Money, the 416 page opus on the rise of money and its repercussions for American politics by Robert Kaiser. Kaiser has worked for the Post for nearly fifty years and is currently its associate editor.
The author uses the fascinating narrative of the rise of Gerald Cassidy, a key player in the rise of contemporary lobbying in Washington. Cassidy started off as as a political aide to a Democrat with presidential aspirations before venturing off into the world of “government relations.” He spearheaded the use of earmarks to grant public funds to the specific projects of his clients. An institution paying Cassidy’s firm a monthly retainer fee could find itself the recipient of tends of millions of tax-payer dollars, the result of a government official inserting a few lines into an appropriation bill.
Intertwined with Cassidy’s story are the events that led to the ever-increasing costs of elections, culminating into the phenomenon of politicians being in a “perpetual campaign.” As new approaches such as astroturfing, polling, television ads and the political agents that used them came into play to win votes, the price tags of campaigns rose and rose. American politicians have now come to devote a significant amount of their time to soliciting funds, especially the large amounts that special interests can provide. In exchange for the investment in their campaign, politicians offer these interests influence over the legislative process. To the political actors, it’s a means to secure the potential for additional funding. Though transactions involving the exchange of private wealth for government power were nothing new, its pervasiveness was.
Kaiser shows, through his methodical reporting, that despite efforts to make it appear otherwise, money did buy policy. One of the more interesting cases in the book is the use of Washington lobbying firms by Taiwan to alter U.S. foreign policy to be in its favour. There is a fine line between bribery and campaign contributions, the author notes.
With politicians in a mode of perpetual campaigning, the interests of the people took a backseat to the interests of those that would give the politicians money. If only the poor were able to afford lobbyists, Kaiser quips through a quote, something would be done to help them.
