Lobbying does not have a particularly positive image in the United States, mainly because of its association with large banks and corporations, and subverting the legislative and regulatory process in favor of big business against the public interest. Lobbyists spent over a billion dollars a year at the federal level, which was more than money spent on campaign contributions. In 2009, the energy industry spent $450 million lobbying Congress and the finance, real estate and insurance industry $475 million (Wiener 2011). Academic economists and political scientists tend to be overwhelmingly negative about this type of lobbying and its effect on American democracy, and critical of rent-seeking industries, interest groups and politicians. On the other hand, the positive side of lobbying includes grassroots campaigns conducted by a wide variety of organizations, from Common Cause to the NAACP and National Organization for Woman to the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund. While...
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