Hightower Lowdown

A NUMBER OF TRAVEL FIRMS OFFER a “democracy tour” of Washington, DC. They’ll buzz you through the White House, let you behold the ornate grandeur of the Senate and House chambers, give you a peek into the marbled halls of the Supreme Court, and generally introduce you to symbols of American political power. But to see actual political power in today’s system, you’d need to take what amounts to an “antidemocracy tour,” following the money trail through our Capitol City. Unfortunately, tourist buses don’t go there.

To see money power at work, you could take a five-minute walk from the gleaming dome of the Capitol building to the Republican and Democratic party headquarters. In both, there are banks of small offices (fancy cubicles, really), each with a table, a couple of chairs, and a phone. This is where our stalwart lawmakers spend an inordinate amount of their time telephoning corporate executives, lobbyists, and other special interests, methodically asking each of them to give or raise $5,000, $50,000, $500,000--or more--to fund their re-election campaigns. It’s not unusual for senators to spend three hours a day, three days a week holed up in these dark spaces, doing nothing but making money call after money call to a list of wealthy elites. [ read more ]