At least dead people like them
It seems Microsoft has resorted to pathetic tactics to try to win favor with the Attorneys General in the states where they are contesting their monopoly status, as this Newsfactor story details.
It’s amazing to me that a company whose products have touched so many people could be as universally reviled as they are. About the only organizations people hate more are the phone companies.
But, this story sheds some light on the practice of lobbying in this country. Personally, I have always thought of lobbying as a truly loathsome profession; down there with pimps and thugs and Hollywood agents. Lobbying as a concept doesn’t sound so bad: Not everyone can make it to Washington, after all, so why not send representatives there for you?
The problem is, as soon as there’s an extra person involved, it costs more money, which means in effect that these people end up just functioning as whores who bend over for the highest bidder.
For example, I’ve heard estimates that anywhere from 65-80% of the American people are pro-choice (based on varying polls and studies), but in the press it gets perceived as more of a 50-50 issue, simply because there’s disproportionately more money on the side of the anti-abortion contingent (religious institutions, traditional corporate industry). Because of lobbying they are able to make their cause sound more popular than it is, when, by all accounts, if the matter were simply put to a referendum of the people, it’s clear that abortion would be legalized.
I think lobbying is one of the most dangerous threats to our democratic freedom in this country; and that it ought to be outlawed. The tactics used by the lobbyists in this Microsoft story only confirm my worst suspicions.