Lewis, Charles and the Center for Public Integrity. The Buying of the Congress: How Special Interests Have Stolen Your Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. New York: Avon Books, 1998. 416 pages.

With ten writers, two editors, and 25 researchers, the Center spent a year interviewing 1,200 people, perusing thousands of campaign-spending reports and other official records, and hanging out on LexisNexis. They wanted to find out which issues Americans care about, what Congress did or did not do with these issues, and how special interests may have influenced the outcome.

The issues are organized as chapter themes: toxic chemicals (methyl bromide), food safety (E. coli and meat inspection), tobacco companies, gun control, drug companies, job safety, airlines, nursing homes, agricultural subsidies, tax breaks for corporations, telecommunications deregulation, and Social Security and Medicare. This is followed by several chapters on big business centralization, free trade and runaway shops, and corporate influence in the courts. An appendix lists 32 leading members of Congress, along with each of their top ten career patrons (corporations and lobbying PACs). It's a depressing picture. The last two sentences of the book read, "Today ... there is no leadership or protest against our subjugation to the powerful economic interests that have captured our Congress and our politics. We are tired, and there is no alternative but to protest."
ISBN 0-380-97596-3

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