The Episcopal Church is active, despite what you might hear on the news...

I received an e-mail last week from The Episcopal Public Policy Network. It began thusly:

Already this year, you've heard a lot from us about the U.S. farm bill – the legislation that governs U.S. agricultural and food policy – and the need for reforms that will strengthen rural communities and fight hunger at home and abroad. The House Agriculture Committee is giving final consideration to the bill this week, and – despite the advocacy of an unprecedented alliance of faith groups and antipoverty advocates around the country – all signs indicate that calls for farm-bill reform have fallen on deaf ears in the committee. This means that the cause of reform is now in the hands of the full House, and that it will be critical over the next few weeks for every member of the House to hear from constituents that the status quo is not good enough. It will also be critical to ask lawmakers to press House leaders to stand with the champions of reform.

As I read this, a thought occurred to me: what is the place of lobbying? In 2005 and ’06, there was a media-wide discussion of the place of lobbying to Congress in the midst of and the aftermath of the Abramoff lobbyist scandal. We heard all sorts of things about lobbyists, including that the problem isn’t lobbying, but the money involved. Defenders of lobbyists (and K Street) pointed out that lobbyists are issue-minded groups that are a government official and politicos best source of information. In a nutshell, lobbyists need access to Congress so that their issues are heard and that Congress can be informed.

This compelling reason has highlighted something else: the weight different lobbyists hold. The Episcopal Church has been actively pursuing sensible amendments to the farm bill that account for workers’ rights, fair wages, and support for independent, local farmers. Big agro-business has been opposing these amendments. As you can see from the above quote the latter has won at this stage.

Today, I have realized the utter simplicity of this issue. We think it’s complex, and we act as if there are really many facets to consider, but there is really only one thing, and it is the same as the Jack Abramoff scandal: money. Big Agro-business has it, and they are bribing Washington. The Episcopal Church, with many more compelling reasons, both intellectually and ethically, are being ignored. The sick part is that the media will pretend as if the Episcopal Church was never involved. I have heard conservative pundits suggest that the Churches didn’t do anything to stop the invasion of Iraq, but the mainstream protestant churches joined with the Roman Catholic Church to oppose it before a first shot was fired. What weight has the Church shown?

It is about money. More precisely, it is about revenue. Newspapers and network news programs, under the crush of needing to be profitable (nothing to do with journalistic integrity) have avoided any controversy that may adversely affect them, which has included showing the outrage shown by all but the extreme right. For Congress, it is about the impact of branding by the media and media-savvy pundits (remember the never-uttered ‘quote’: I invented the Internet?) that has control over our politicians and Congress. Our media is running our country and who is increasingly running our media? Rupert Murdoch.

If there were any indicator more important and more ignored than the study that examined the 2000 election coverage, it has not been seen. This study showed that approximately 3 out of 4 times that Vice President Al Gore was discussed in a story, brought up on the nightly news, or described in the newspaper, it was in negative tones. This was in direct contrast with then-Governor G. W. Bush who benefited from positive stories 3 out of 4 times.

Next time you hear somebody suggest that the Church isn’t active or that the Episcopal Church needs to take a stand on something, send them to www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn or tell them that you know different. It is up to us to be the agents of change, not corporations.