Special interests are the American boogeyman. They are used as political ammunition by both the right and left and everyone agrees that they are a danger to our democracy because the priorities of these "special interests", rather than the public well-being, set the political agenda in Washington.

However, special interests are not the problem. Every citizen has their own special interests. (Mine, for example, include opposition of the Iraq war, support of green energy alternatives, an irrational revulsion towards plastic packaging, and celebrity gossip blogs). No, the problem is not that special interests exist. The problem is that some special interest are much more powerful than others...which means that some citizens are much more powerful than others... which means that democracy is not working.

According to Harvard professor Sidney Verba, “democracy is based on the promise that equality of voice can balance inequality of resources." However, the inequality of the latter keeps getting in the way of the equality of the former. Historically, citizens with more money (and the corporations they form) have had a louder voice in the policy debate.

This is because in the past lobbying for one policy or another has cost a lot of money. If you wanted to pressure lawmakers into supporting your special interest you needed to pay a fancy K Street lobbying firm to press your case in Congress. You know - meet the Congressman, smiles and handshakes, promises of contributions to the campaign fund - the type of thing most Americans find repulsive.

K Street in Washington DC: home of the nations most powerful lobbying firms

But times are changing. It's an age-old adage that power comes from two sources: money and people. You need large amounts of one of these resources behind you if you want influence. In the pre-internet era, gaining influence with money (hire a lobbying firm) was much easier than gaining influence with people (contact allies, organize meetings, convinces people why they should care, organize public actions, organize more actions, fight activist fatigues, more actions...).

With the internet, citizen lobbying is a whole lot easier. Signing a petition online takes approximately 30 seconds and you can ask people to sign by sending them an e-mail, which is free. If fundraising is necessary you can use a PayPal widget on your website to collect small donations from many people (which cumulatively equals big money). If you want to organize an action, like calling Congressmen on a particular day regarding your cause, again e-mail is quick, effective, and (still) free. E-petions are so common they are almost cliché (and they are also free). Because of the internet, citizen special interests can balance corporate special interest in the fight to form policy.

a dastardly ear of corn lurking just beneath its husk

But how exactly can citizen special interests balance corporate special interest in policy formation? Let's take the example of exciting corn subsidies (no, really, it's exciting). The government currently subsidized the American corn industry to the tune of $9.4 billion dollars a year (that's a 2005 figure). What's the result? Corn products are cheaper, so we eat corn-fed beef (higher in fat) and lots of our foods (bread, ketchup) use corn syrup as a sweetener, which can cause diabetes. According to a recent article in the NYTimes, "the Twinkie is basically a clever arrangement of carbohydrates and fats teased out of corn, soybeans and wheat — three of the five commodity crops that [a recent] farm bill supports, to the tune of some $25 billion a year." Isn't it great that government policy is making the Twinkie possible?

Also, although corn can be used to make ethanol, a green energy alternative (see my special interests), wouldn't it be better to switch from petroleum to an energy source that didn't require billions in subsidies to be cost effective?

And why does the government subsidize corn? Well, that's no surprise - corn growers pay Washington lobbyists a lot of money to push for pro-corn policies. How much money? Well, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), which makes products like corn syrup and ethanol, made $35.9 billion in profits in 2006. So let's just say they have plenty of money to pay lobbyists.

What chance do citizens who want America to grow healthier food or have a responsible energy policy have against a monster like Archer Daniels Midland? Well, let's suppose that a farm bill (with fat corn subsidies) is in the works. One day, a Congressman receives a visit from a corn lobbyist who thanks him for his support on the farm bill and promises $20,000 for his next campaign. The Congressman also receive 20 phone calls from constituents who say that they oppose corn subsidies and that they will consider this during the next election. And then the Congressman receives 100 e-mails from constituents with the same message. And then he receives the results of an e-petition with 5,000 constituent signatures saying they will not donate to his campaign if he votes for the farm bill.

What do you think the Congressman will do? He might side with the constituents or maybe he'll side with the lobbyist. The point is, the answer isn't obvious anymore. The lobbying powers of Big Business have been equalled by the lobbying power of Big Citizen and the internet made it possible. The internet is the people's K Street.

photo credit: ~The Olis In 'Consin~ (corn) and bendystraw (Kstreet)