(2010-11-11) Tea Party Vs Earmarks

The Tea Party is going after EarMark-s.

Larry Lessig supports them in this. He's right, even if the money isn't very relevant in terms of Budget Deficit, it's a pointless form/source of Corruption. Earmarks are not bribes. But they are an essential element in the corruption that is Congress today. As Washington Post reporter Robert Kaiser describes in his fantastic book, So Damn Much Money, they have become the key to an incredible economy of influence that effectively enables lobbyists to auction too many policy decisions to the highest special interest bidder. That economy won't change simply by eliminating earmarks. But eliminating earmarks is an essential first step to starving this Republic-destroying beast.

Mitch Mc Connell is against the ban.