The Informationist

In Which I Fail to See a Difference

Apparently, yesterday’s NYT ran an article about young interns enjoying the good life as summer interns at the Heritage Foundation. Matt Yglesias thanked an attentive reader for calling his attention to what he saw as an apalling diference between conservatives and liberals (or Republicans, and Democrats, if you will). One of the interns apparently expressed a desire to work as a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist. Matt saw this as an expression of the ideological bankruptcy on the rights, and as evidence that its ascendancy would be short-lived.

Apalling, perhaps. But difference? Not as far as I can see. I ask:

Does this blurring differ elsewhere in the political spectrum? I’ve been in Washington more than a decade, and my experience is that if you’re not an elected official and you don’t arrive with contributions or contributors in tow, no one is much interested in what you’ve got to say.

Has anyone out there had different experiences? Can anyone tell me stories about how professionals (i.e., those qualified to do above entry-level work) have approached organizations with a successful pitch of the form:

“You may or may not have seen my previous work, but I agree with your general positions, I have many ideas, and I would like to work with you to shape policy prescriptions that address the concerns that we share. I have some time to volunteer, but somewhere along the line I’m going to need something that pays the bills.”

My experience is that it’s very hard to even get a meeting with folks on those terms. Invariably, they take my name and explain that they would like me to donate money.

Has anyone had fundamentally different experiences anywhere on the political spectrum? Is there an organization in town--on any issue--as interested in soliciting contributed ideas as in hitting people up for money? And if not, how do any of them send messages that differ from the one for which Matt criticizes Heritage?

Posted by Bruce Abramson from on 06/15 at 10:01 PM in American Government, Politics, and Domestic Policies