This week’s “Daily Journal” guest columnist is Daren Bakst, Legal and Regulatory Policy Analyst for the John Locke Foundation.
This primer is inspired by the workings of the North Carolina legislature. I always think proper credit should be given.
I will use some examples to demonstrate how legislators can become oligarchs – maybe even monarchs – for life. There’s a major caveat: no matter what party you belong to, you must serve in the majority party. My primer doesn’t work for anyone else.
First, prospective oligarchs must create legislative rules that make it impossible for anything but legislation they support to be considered. Just recently, the North Carolina House had 88 sponsors for a constitutional amendment protecting property rights.
Fear not, my opposition friends, for legislative rules can keep that bill from ever being considered. Even support from 88 out of 120 members is not enough. When Meat Loaf sang two out of three ain’t bad, he could’ve increased it to three out of four.
In this instance, the bill somehow escaped the Rules Committee abyss. House leaders sent it to the House Judiciary III committee. That group actually listened for a few minutes to learn details about the bill.
But opponents had no need to worry. The committee didn’t vote in favor of the amendment. In fact, because all committee chairs have so much power, it didn’t even have to come to a vote. This rule also helps you get around the problem of members from your own party voting for a bill you dislike.
With no vote, the bill ended up back in the hands of the House Rules Committee. Even more amusing: three of the bill’s sponsors actually voted to send it back to the abyss to die. Can you see why power is so great?
Here’s your second rule: control the information. Information really is power. Please remember that, my aspiring oligarch. Make sure everything important is worked out behind closed doors. Surprise the opposition by considering bills they never have seen, including the state budget.
A great thing about limiting access to information is that it makes the information even more valuable. To maximize the information’s value, power must be very concentrated in the legislature. The fewer people with access to the information, the more valuable it becomes for lobbyists and other information seekers. This is an ideal precondition to create a pay-for-play system. The cost to play goes way up.
Third, blame the lobbyists when things go bad. You’d be surprised how many people buy into this blame. Practice this line: “The system made me do it—the lobbyists and ‘special interests’ are so powerful that I [insert unethical behavior].” I’d always recommend holding a puppy when delivering this line to the media.
People just hate “special interests.” Yes, everyone is a member of a special interest. They are the means by which individuals can work together to take collective action and fight the “big guys,” but people still hate them.
I also recommend blaming big money and making the case that money is the problem. It really works. In fact, it works so well, you can blame money and entrench your power at the same time!
One of the best ways to do this is to push for taxpayer financing of elections. Wait, be sure to call it “public” funding of elections. That sounds better.
Without getting into a lot of detail, these systems help you by blaming money and by equalizing the campaign contributions that can be spent in an election. Since challengers need to spend more money to overcome your name recognition and media exposure, you can have an even greater advantage.
North Carolina has done this with judicial elections and now wants a pilot test for legislative races—the first step to full public funding of legislators’ campaigns. Don’t worry about that pesky First Amendment. Don’t worry about compelling taxpayers to support speech and candidates they oppose.
Leave it to the courts to decide what is legal. Why should you worry about quaint notions like “rights” and “freedoms”? You might even get lucky and have a court uphold these laws since political speech is under attack.
Fourth and finally, muzzle your critics by making political speech illegal. If you thought the federal McCain-Feingold bill was good, you haven’t seen anything yet. That meager attempt at stifling free speech only prohibited a significant amount of broadcast communications within 60 days of general elections for federal office.
North Carolina, for state elections, took it even further. State law prohibits even a small amount of mailings, faxes, and telephone calls within 60 days of general elections (and within 30 days of a primary). If this wasn’t good enough, the legislature just yesterday decided to reduce the amount of communications even further.
I hope this primer, albeit brief, has given you some helpful tips on how you can gain and keep power. These proven methods look like they will work for years to come unless some “mavericks” ruin it.
Fortunately, there is no drumbeat for legislators to change and regulate themselves. They’re looking for ways that legislators can change and regulate others. These really are good times to have power.