Why Does Government So Often Fail to Represent the Public Interest?

Across the political spectrum, Americans increasingly share the same frustration:

We usually blame the other political party. But what if something deeper is happening? What if the political system itself creates incentives that make representation more difficult?

PUBLIC OFFICE. PRIVATE MONEY.

We elect people to public office to represent the public. But getting elected — and remaining elected — requires candidates to raise enormous amounts of private money.

That creates a fundamental contradiction: elected officials receive their authority from citizens, while their campaigns can become financially dependent upon a much smaller group of people and organizations capable of financing modern elections.

MONEY DOESN’T HAVE TO BUY A VOTE TO BUY ACCESS

Political influence rarely looks like someone handing an elected official a check in exchange for a vote. The real system is more sophisticated.

Money helps build relationships. Relationships create access. Access creates opportunities to shape how problems are understood, which issues receive attention and which solutions are seriously considered.

The average citizen has a vote. Powerful organized interests may also have lobbyists, political organizations, professional advocates and substantial financial resources.

WHOSE INTEREST IS THE PUBLIC INTEREST?

In one firsthand example from the legislative process, a corporate executive argued that government resources should flow toward American businesses because businesses create jobs and allow people to support themselves.

It was a legitimate argument to make.

But he was there asking for legislation that would help his company pay the cost of moving American jobs overseas.

That was his job: advocate for his company. Business should advocate for business, just as labor, organizations and citizens advocate for their interests. Representative government exists to hear those competing interests and decide what best serves the country as a whole.

The interests of a corporation and the interests of the country can overlap. They are not necessarily the same.

THE COST OF A SYSTEM THAT CAN’T CHOOSE

America faces serious long-term challenges — including debt, education and healthcare — that will shape the country we hand to the next generation.

Brick by Brick does not prescribe a Republican or Democratic solution to each of them. Our concern comes before the solution:

Postponing difficult decisions does not eliminate their cost. It transfers the cost to the generation that follows us.

THIS ISN’T PRIMARILY ABOUT BAD PEOPLE. IT’S ABOUT BAD INCENTIVES.

Business will advocate for business. Labor will advocate for labor. Organizations will advocate for their members. Citizens will advocate for themselves. That is democracy.

The problem begins when the people entrusted to weigh those competing interests become financially dependent upon some of the participants.

So how did we build a political system in which public officials must continually raise private money simply to remain in public office?