US Government (Friday, April 21, 4th period)

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh was reading an article about a health care plan proposed by some Texas Congressman named Santos that Toby had forwarded to him when the government class began arriving.

"Next week's class will be a review session, so today we talk about the last thing that you'll be required to care about for the final exam." He pointed to the board, where he had written lobbyists and the media.

"Technically, not part of the three separate but equal branches of government that the Founders had envisioned, but especially in the modern age, incredibly influential in the way laws are drawn up and passed."

He kicked his feet up onto his desk. "You've done the handwavy reading. How do you think the Founders would react if they came back and wandered down K Street and saw all the lobbying firms? Or turned on Fox News? Do you think this is what they had in mind? Do you think they could see how we got here? Would George Washington have a heart attack to see what we've done?"

Comments

Sign in (April 21)

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

...

Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Where does Sean Hannity fit in the system of government? If he doesn't, can we boot him off a cliff?"

After class

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

The Student Council should be here soon, but Josh had a couple of minutes.

OOC

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

...

Re: Sign in (April 21)

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel signed in.

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel rolled her eyes, "The founders would probably march on K Street with pitchforks and torches. As for Hannity, there's so much methane coming from the um, dung, he emits that he's probably a significant contributer to global warming on his own."

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh grinned. "It's been a while since we've had a decent tar and feathering."

Re: Sign in (April 21)

[chasingangela]

Angela signed in.

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[chasingangela]

Angela seemed to be staring out a window. "The founders used the media too," she pointed out. "Thomas Paine would be a blogger, if he was alive now."

Re: Sign in (April 21)

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse signed in.

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"They might be a bit surprised about how things have turned out, but if they had the technology and ability we have today, it wouldn't be all that different from how it is now. People are pretty much the same no matter how much time goes by."

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Can we make it a double, no a triple feature? Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh?" Isabel asked. "We could sell tickets!"

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Throw in Mary Marsh and you've got yourself a deal," Josh said with a grin.

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh nodded. "Probably true. But do you think he would've had the same kind of impact as Common Sense did back in the 1700s? With so much information available, would he have been drowned in the rest of the noise being spit out in a 24-hour news cycle?"

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"So if we were colonists right now and wanted to become our own country--Jefferson would fire up his blog, send out a chain email to his buddies in the state houses?"

He snickered. "I bet Washington would never check his email."

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[chasingangela]

Angela shrugged. "Dunno."

A moment later, feeling Lyman's gaze still on her: "It was so much harder to get a message out back then? So that's kind of almost the same kind of barrier the noise is now. I think."

[OOC: This is killing the player because she could write an essay on this subject, but Angela is an apathetic student on a good day.]

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh nodded. "Good thoughts, Angela."

Re: Sign in (April 21)

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter signed in following Angela's lead in making the thread collapse, hooray!.

Re: Sign in (April 21)

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth signed in. Yay collapsing threads!

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Mostly, I think Washington would be weirded out by the moving pictures. Once he got over that, though, I think he and the other Founders would see the benefits of our current setup and abuse it just like most politicians."

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"Not all lobbyists are bad." Elizabeth might have been pouting slightly at this. "Sometimes they're the only way that Washington will actually listen to problems, and not even then with some of the idiots that actually got elected."

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh smiled. "I'll have to see if someone around here knows how to bring him back next year. I'd be fun to watch his brain break."

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"I'm going to miss this class. Where else can we hear a teacher plotting to mess around with time and space to meet George Washington for the sole purpose of freaking him out?"

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Some of my best friends are lobbyists," Josh said. "Really. It's not just one of those things people say. They do good work, highlighting issues that need to have more attention paid. But then you also have, like, the beer lobby. Who are hugely popular only because they throw killer parties in the Rayburn building."

Re: Lobbyists and the Media

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"And then they try and do things like defeat tougher anti-drink-driving laws," Elizabeth sighed, rolling her eyes.