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 I am struck by the observation that, once again, the governing class seeks to resolve a problem of its own making by imposing record-keeping and reporting requirements and other burdens, costs, and penalties on the people.
Do you think we could cut through the fog of conflict regarding lobbying excess and reform by establishing a simple benchmark: Any reasonable regulations that Congress wishes to impose upon itself to avoid lobbying excess, conflicts of interest, and the appearances of same are acceptable; but regulation and restriction of the speech, associational, and petitioning rights of the people, individually and in groups, intended to be totally secured by the First Amendment ("Congress shall make no law...") are completely unacceptable.
In short, Congress: Regulate yourself; not us.
And don't you think that there's a lot of mileage to be gained in broadening the "leave us alone coalition" on this topic to embrace all willing partners regardless of ideological stripe?
JOSEPH A. MORRIS of MORRIS & DE LA ROSA, Chicago, Illinois is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Conservative Union
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