American society. So too, the author often equates interest groups, lobbyists, and American citizens as needy children who all too often demand of the federal government their own self-interested needs met. As Will’s (1995) writes in The Leveling Wind, in reference to the birth of his son David, “A barbarian has been defined as someone who regards his passions as their own excuse for existing. David does. His as-yet narrow repertoire of passions, voiced with Wagnerian crescendos, are for nourishment and dry diapers. In considering his desires self-justifying, David is suited to this city that is planted thick with insistent interest groups. But he is just a baby. What is their excuse? (3). A similar need-assistance relationship currently defines the relationship between American citizens, interest groups, and government. What this situation creates is a multitude of demands upon the federal government where the squeakiest (i.e. richest and most powerfully backed) needs are met instead of and at the expense of other needs.
One of Will’s most popular themes is the way Congress and the White House are often at odds because of careerism and the desire for reelection competing with each other’s need to appease various issues and interests. These issues and interests are nonstop demands from citizens and lobbying groups vying for attention often at the expense of each other’s interests. One example Will’s gives is the recent debate over the transportation bill. In one of his recent columns, Will’s (2004) maintains that George Bush has already declared he will not allow “gas-tax increases” or “use of general revenues” to supplement the transportation bill budget (1). However, Congress, in an effort for various legislators to win measures favorable to their states, are opposed to Bush’s decree that the bill must be funded only using the federal Highway Trust Fund.
However, when such politicians are ...