For those of you who don't know K Street, the Wiki definition sums it up pretty well in the first sentence;
K Street is a major thoroughfare in the United States capital of Washington, D.C. known as a center for numerous think tanks, lobbyists, and advocacy groups.
In other words it's the hub of special interest activity and influence in the country. Later this morning, my Saturday Learning Series will take a look at it. But here's a question for anyone who cares to answer it or even think about it:
Why are the Occupy Wall Street people protesting Wall Street and big retailers when their erstwhile hero, president Obama, has always been complaining about "the special interests"? Simply because that's who they've been told are the special interests. The narrative conveniently overlooks unions, teachers, police, students, the medical industry, farmers, the military complex, communists, socialists, feminists, the gun lobby, the gay community, environmentalists, churches, racists, anti-racists, photographers the government itself, and pretty much any other group in the country. In other words, if you are in any sort of group or club, you have a special interest. The Tea Party and OWS both are special interests themselves.
Combating the power wielded by special interest groups, does not mean shutting down the groups, it means removing the opportunity from any specific group from achieving too much power. That means going after the mechanism by which that influence and power is wielded. That in turn means either going after government spending and legislation a la the Tea Party, or going after the lobbyists themselves. Occupy K Street would achieve far more real change and it wouldn't be deemed anti-capitalist like the current OWS mish-mash of efforts is.
Just a suggestion.
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