The Gantt Report
By Lucius Gantt
Congratulations to President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on getting legislation passed that will increase the country’s debt limit and will avoid a devastating impact on the United States economy.
Congratulations are due but what the two political leaders did is what happens more times than not, compromise.
Biden and McCarthy both took to the airwaves to insist that they won the battle about spending or not spending tax dollars.
So, let The Gantt Report explain how things go down in Congress when Democrats and Republicans disagree.
The people that run things in Washington, D.C. are not elected officials.
Politicians have advisors on their staff and corporations, interest groups and wealthy individuals retain and hire lobbyists.
News networks will rush to get comments from opposing sides, but news reporters don’t always have a clue about who is pushing the buttons, pulling the strings, or settling political discourse.
Politicians caucus, or get together, to discuss ways to resolve differences in goals and opinions but before any votes are cast, all parties talk to their paid consultants.
More often, than not, politicians are told, “You can’t always get what you want.” That’s not necessarily true. Sometimes “all or nothing” happens.
If you could be a fly on the wall in the back room of the bar or restaurant where lobbyists meet, you would hear lobbyists explain to each other why every significant piece of legislation should end up with no political party or group being overjoyed at the end of the legislative battle.
To a lobbyist, the best result that can result from a political confrontation is for both sides in a battle to be disappointed.
If disappointment is widespread, lobbyists can tell their clients, “If you pay me more money, we can get what you want next year!”
Lobbyists make the big bucks because they create political scenarios, that benefit the lobbyists.
Let me give you some examples of issues that have been around forever but have never been fully resolved, tort reform, judicial reform, policing reforms, reparations for Blacks, indigent care, casino gambling in cities desired by voters, voting rights, gun bans and reforms, immigration and border reform, education issues, climate issues and more.
Democrats and Republican disagree often but it seems that they love each other sometimes more than they love you and their other constituents.
In other words, what you’ve been told was an epic battle between major political parties and interests was really a political pillow fight between political lovers in a leaky waterbed!
Monumental political efforts usually come from the streets, not from the suites of political storytellers.
Marches, protests, and political disagreements take place in Washington, D.C., but the fires of political dissent are ignited on the highways, byways, and dirt roads in local communities.
Follow the money to see why political discourse ends up the way it does.
Big lobbyists make more money than big political party leaders.
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