stephenbooth's Journal: The best votes money can buy

Just found this in Bob Cringely's latest column:

First, the part about government. To better understand how out of touch with reality U.S. government is, let's hear from someone who has worked in Federal government IT for more than two decades:

"As an executive branch employee for the last 24 years, I can assure you that there is no such thing as 'the government.' The phrase suggests a monolithic entity with a single purpose. In fact there are three branches that were deliberately designed to be at odds with each other. Even limiting the discussion to the executive branch - the one that comes under the 'Executive Office of the President' - there are a multitude of departments and agencies pulling in many different directions. If you are speaking of the current administration, I can't tell that it matters to them. As long as large corporations and wealthy individuals continue to contribute as much as they can, any way they can, the administration will continue to reward them. In theory Congress, especially the House, should be more concerned about the effects on their constituents. If you ask any one of them about it, s/he will say the right thing. But as can be seen from their inability to pass a budget on time (once in the past 10 years, I believe), the only thing they are effective at is delivering pork to the folks at home. Again, as long as the contributions keep rolling in, the bills and votes will favor the contributor. Money buys access - period!"

That's very worrying.

Stephen