The Lobby. A Corrupting Influence?

You’ve heard about the Lobby. Come on. You know the one.

It’s the one that makes otherwise seemingly rational people go bug-eyed complete with suspicious shoulder checks. You know it. Say it.

The Israel Lobby.

Full disclosure: I was a paid agent of the Lobby for several years. And I’m proud of the work I did for the cause. And all of us did our jobs in keeping with any other lobby, public relations or marketing group.

But the Israel Lobby isn’t viewed so objectively by some critics. Fact is, the Israel Lobby takes an insane amount of criticism from brainwashed freshmen to tenured professors and plenty of others who ham it up for the cameras any chance they get.

To them, the Israel Lobby is not just another PR group; it’s a corrupting influence on our democracy.

Maybe you’ve heard of Professors Walt and Mearsheimer. They wrote a scathing indictment of the American pro-Israel lobby.

The central thrust of the argument against the Lobby is based on funding-- it’s a wealthy and therefore influential lobby.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s a legit observation on the American political climate. No problem so far.

With very lax, if any, spending limits in the political sphere, money can take you a long way. That said, money can’t buy everything in American politics.

However, the nut-jobs on the far left up in Canada seem to think that north of the US border, lobby groups reign supreme.

Let me give you a reality check.

This is Part 1 in a six-part series of essays in The Propagandist confronting critics of the Israel Lobby. Daniel Schloss is a contributing writer and former Israel lobby insider.

Continue reading the series in  The Lobby, Part 2. Reality Check