Open Government

Chapter 17. Disrupting Washington’s Golden Rule

Ellen S. Miller

Note

This chapter was written before the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission changed the campaign finance landscape.

Washington’s golden rule is different from the one we all learned growing up: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In fact, Washington’s golden rule—“He who has the gold, rules”—works in opposite fashion.

That’s not news. The fact that big money drives government decisions, that it has created a mercenary culture in which nearly everything appears to be for sale, has been true of our nation since its founding. Whether it’s information, access to lawmakers and elected officials, legislation, or government spending, an exclusive group of moneyed insiders have outsized influence. There are, of course, many channels for money to influence outcomes, most notably campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures. There are also a multitude of ways this group of insiders gets rewarded—contracts to consulting firms, special earmarks for government spending, targeted tax breaks, and corporate subsidies. But the result is the same: those who give, get. Ordinary people—“outsiders”—are excluded from this cozy little game.

But now there is a new challenge to this very old way of doing things.

With the rise of the Internet and the social Web, the outsiders are becoming “insiders”—or, to be clearer, the barriers to entry are falling, the gatekeepers are losing their power ...