Selling Out American Democracy

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder[er] is less to fear.”

                                                                                                   Marcus Tullius Cicero

As someone with a deep abiding respect for American democracy, I have watched with trepidation its slow erosion by lobbyists, many of whom are former government employees. Many will argue that lobbying is an integral part of American democracy. As far as I'm concerned however, it has gotten totally out of control. There is no doubt in my mind that it has a corrupting influence on both political parties and therefore skews the rightful effect of the average American's voice at the ballot box. Luckily, there are still many Americans willing to speak out against these abuses. Sibel Edmonds is a Turkish-American who is a former translator for the FBI. Fired from her job for her courageous whistle-blowing activities, she has detailed the alleged cover-up of illicit activities by Turkish nationals. Edmonds alleges that in the course of her work for the government, she found evidence that the FBI, State Department, and Pentagon had been infiltrated by a Turkish intelligence organization suspected of ties to terrorism. She also accused members of the FBI's translation unit of sabotage, intimidation, corruption and incompetence.

Read her two part series at www.Balkanalysis.com located here and here.


Technorati Tags: Sibel Edmonds, American Turkish Council, Lobbying by Foreign Interests, American Democracy, Lobbying, Turkey

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Comments

[Hermes]

You fail to mention the activities of the most powerful lobby group. Why?

[Stavros]

Hermes,

If you read the two part series by Edmonds in its entirety you will find that although it concentrates on Turkish activities, it implicates other lobbies as well. The Israeli lobby has indeed been helpful to the Turkish lobby. I repaired the links if you were having difficulty with them. Lobbying in and of itself is not illegal, however, many lobbying efforts often short circuit the legitimate concerns of the American voter and disregard the national interest. Worse still some lobbyists occasionally lapse into illegal activities that pose a threat to American security. I think it is time we curtailed the lobbying activities of foreign governments or their paid "American" employees. No lobby should be exempt from scrutiny and the sooner we expose illicit activities to the light of day the better for us all.