“Has Government Sold Out?”, a commentary by Christa Vargo addresses the Occupy Wall Street protests and their concerns with the cost of campaigning and the influence of interest groups on congressional seats. They feel that business interest groups contribute large sums of money to government candidates and PAC’s and in turn cause a conflict of interest.
Christa’s argument is in line with the views of the Occupy Wall Street protestors; she argues that the relationship between congress and interest groups is unethical and that reducing the cost of campaign contributions would diffuse greed and corruption and in turn create a more relatable government body.
The argument is well defended by an embedded link that shows the amount of money candidates are raising in order to run in political races and also states that money wins presidency in 9 out of 10 congressional races. The author’s audience is most likely a more liberal one; yet not exactly Democratic as most Occupy Wall Street protesters “disassociate themselves with any political party.”
In my opinion Christa’s argument is very logical; she makes a good point that “In any other setting this kind of relationship would be considered unethical and grounds for job termination.” It really is sad that money is what represents people in congress. James Madison warned against factions in Federalist # 10 and there is no doubt that interest groups were intended for that warning.
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