We probably all know the Pledge of Allegiance. Some have said it every day in grade school (if you are old enough).

But, in Congress, there is another pledge of allegiance. It's not to the flag, but rather to the companies that provide soft money and PAC money for reelection campaigns. And election campaigns for Congress often run millions of dollars for each candidate. That's a lot of money to raise every two years. That money doesn't come from companies just for good government, but for proper votes on issues critical to the profits of those companies.

Corporate Political Action Committees (PACs) can donate money directly to candidates (for both primary as well as the general election) and to national election committees. Laws place limits for contributions to individual candidates and political parties.

However, a Federal Election Commission ruling in 1978 created loopholes that allowed large contributions of (so called "soft") money to the national parties, not to support political candidates, but for party building activities. The first soft money contributions began with the 1988 presidential campaign and grew rapidly ever since.

A new corporate pledge of allegiance could go something like this:

Lobbyists in Washington D.C. seek laws favorable to the profits of the companies or organizations they represent.

Perhaps one reason is that Congress gave broadcasters free digital TV licenses worth up to $70 Billion in 1996. And changes to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule governing the return of old analog TV licenses now make it likely that broadcasters will get to keep their analog licenses indefinitely.

Another reason could be that Congress removed an FCC regulation that prevented a media company from dominating a particular market. The new language opens the door for media companies to eventually own two TV stations, or one newspaper and one TV station in markets with a population of at least 400,000.

Yet another reason for huge political contributions might be the defeat by members of Congress of a provision that would have imposed fees on broadcasters for "renting" their access to broadcast spectrum. This revenue loss caused Congress to scramble to find an extra $3 billion from elsewhere in the budget, and ended up tapping a fund established to subsidize rural phone service.

These are some of the good reasons for broadcasters to contribute to friendly career politicians.

American is the land of milk and honey. Unfortunately, it is ruled by those with a lust for money. Fortunately for the career politicians, there are rich people with special interests who will gladly trade a little money to get a lot more in return.

As a result, the working people of America are often left out in the cold. We wonder how some of the laws and regulations could possibly be good for the country. And, the sad fact is that many laws are not good for the country. Rather, they are very lucrative for those who support the career politicians.

It's important that you help elect and send a citizen representative to Congress to ensure that the laws are made of, for, and by the people. I want to return political power to the people. That's why I am running for Congress.

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