I'd add one little caveat to your statement, Dave--that not all special 
interest groups are bad!  In fact, they're healthy for a democracy, 
particularly one in which there is no way for the decision-makers in 
Washington to have a full, personal understanding of every issue.  It helps 
if they hear from people who ARE the experts in the matter at hand.

The issue really is one of balance--if only the special interest groups on 
one side of a debate have access to the corridors of power, that's a 
problem.

All my best,

--Eric

Eric D. M. Johnson
Proprietor
The Village Factsmith Historical Research & Consulting
http://www.factsmith.com/
[log in to unmask]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Harvey" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] National Parks SErvice....


I think that no matter your poliical persuasion that we can all agree
that this sort of nonsense must stop, and removing the influence of
business and ALL special interests from the political landscape would
be a healthy thing. Remember that influence has a way of seeping down
through the system to those middle and lower managers in civil service
that we have been talking about.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, California, USA

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