"Lobby" is wide open...

One cannot escape the headlines about the current crises facing the United States. Some expect the conditions to get much worse before any recovery takes place.
The Credit Crisis Is Going to Get Worse

While a number of pundits, including Ben Stein, declare that the U.S. will come through the current crises just fine, the more thoughtful amongst us worry not just about the crisis du jour but about the future of 'effective' democracy in our country.

Increasingly the popular vote is becoming meaningless as Money does talk, and Big Money talks Very Loudly.

Recent headlines about lobbying in Washington are depressing. The Housing Industry is spending lots of $ to get Congress to pass a "bail-out bill."
Housing Industry Ramps Up Political Donations.

Se. Mccain is essentially encouraging his party to skirt the very rules that he and his colleagues wrote in the Campaign Finance Reform bill that became law.
McCain Allies Find Finance-Law Holes.

Sen. Barack Obama has announced that he would opt out of the public financing system for the general election and raise his own funds, obviously expecting to raise far more than what the public funding would give him.

This kind of money influencing the elections and candidates will further obligate the elected officials and make them subservient to the corporations and to the wealthy donors. One can this outcome to widen the gap between the richest 5% of the nation and the rest. Unfortunately the 'rest' do not get any rest- they are working harder just to prevent a steep slide in their quality of life.