What is John McCain doing?

"I never considered myself a maverick," says John McCain, a man who declared himself a maverick during the 2008 elections. This was well before he acquired a conservative primary challenger, J.D. Hayworth, who has convinced McCain to claim he would vote against an immigration reform bill he coauthored in 2005 with Ted Kennedy among other flip flops. This has forced him to move from one of the moderate voices in the senate GOP to one of the most extreme critics of the Obama administration. His desire to change his persona from one of a maverick to one of a right wing voter is so great that he even enlisted Sarah Palin to campaign for his reelection in Arizona last month. This kind of flip flopping is more insidious than the John Kerry flip flopping on the Iraq war or Olympia Snowe on health-care, this is a flip flop of your entire political philosophy. Stop insulting the voters, John, and tell them who you truly are.

Why we shouldn't have to restrict the role of lobbyists in Washington

It is common knowledge that lobbyists have disproportionate influence on our legislative and executive branches of government. During the Bush years, the level of interest spending and influence on policy reached a breaking point. The oil industry managed to receive billions of dollars in subsidies and remove renewable energy from the 2007 energy security bill. The Democrats managed to succeed electorally in 2006 and 2008 based on anti-lobbyist rhetoric though they are by no means free from the influence of interest groups. These interests often have a detrimental effect on government policy and impede the most responsive branch of government from accurately reflecting the people's will.

Obama has been the most outspoken in his opposition to the influence of lobbyists on policy. This led him to ban lobbyists from influencing the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act shortly after its passage. This inhibits the amount of experts that can contribute to this process, however, making this announcement bittersweet. The question is: what role should lobbyists be allowed in our political system?

I don't think they should be restricted nearly as much as they have been of late. Yes, forcing them to register with the government and banning expensive gifts to lawmakers is important, but it doesn't get to the root of the problem. The real problem is lobbying allows business interests to disproportionately influence decisions. And this is only because public participation in the lobbying process and the political process in general has decreased in the last two decades. With exception to 2008, voter turnout has been dropping steadily. Public knowledge of issues that affect their daily lives is very low. The only people with the money and time to make an actual difference in the political process is big business. Therefore the problem does not lie in lobbying itself, but in the lack of a knowledgeable and involved public to compete with it.

Rudy, are you with me? ITS OVER!

So Rudy Giuliani is going after more Republicans for being part of the "blame America first" crowd. Now, three days after the attacks this would seem to be a good accusation given the immense pain and suffering that the country had recently been put through, but that period is over. When Republicans Ron and Rand Paul say our neoconservative policies are partially responsible for the international animosity that resulted in the September 11 attacks, they are doing so out of a firm desire to prevent such attacks from ever happening again. Giuliani's retributive attitude towards foreign policy is exactly what got us into both Middle Eastern wars. When you pursue interventionist policies overseas for more than 30 years that disrupt the lives of already disadvantaged people, they will get angry. So instead of trying to stifle genuine thoughtfulness within your own party, maybe you should try to focus on moving on.