Didn’t The Washington Monthly used to be a magazine that praised partisan machines and denounced activists who became lobbyists to serve the “parochial interests of their employer”? Oh, for the glory days of K Street! When influence-peddling was a cozy bipartisan enterprise! When civility reigned as Republican and Democratic sellouts cooperated to betray their parties’ ideals.
Kaus notes that lobbying would be more bipartisan if Democrats won more elections. Let’s see what the Washington Monthly has to say if Kerry wins in November. . . .
For some thoughts on why electoral turnover, and the lobbyist turnover it engenders, can be a good thing, you might want to read this piece I had in the Vanderbilt Law Review a few years back, entitled Is Democracy Like Sex?
Kaus also clarifies some points in response to Austin Bay’s email, and promises a longer post on that topic later.