The podcast that I listened to was titled, “Lobbyists and Politicians- The Ethical Issue.” The podcast was made by the Emerging Issues Group at Santa Clara University.

As indicated by the title, the group discussed lobbyist relations with politicians. The three main issues covered in the podcast related to lobbyist access to politicians, the transparency of the relations between the two groups, and the common good of these relations in regards to the general public. The bulk of the discussion dealt with the relations that often result from the many encounters that politicians have with the same lobbyists over their careers and whether or not these friendships that develop should be allowed. The content of the conversation was useful in that it was unbiased, giving both sides of the argument on the ethicality of these relations. As all members of the group seemed to be very well read on the issue, it was interesting to hear several examples of politician/lobbyist relations that have occurred and been well known of in the past. The most interesting of these stories to me was hearing the Ford administration had been almost completely planned in the dining room of a top lobbyist for Proctor and Gamble with whom President Gerald Ford has close ties. I cannot imagine the consequences of such a relationship today, but it is interesting to see that these connections are nothing new to American politics. I also learned of a new view point of view to examine that supports an active role of lobbyists in government. This view point, of a man named Adam Smith, argues transparency in lobbying rather than a complete restriction of the process. Smith argues that lobbying should not be restricted as it is the right of the people to support their common good through mechanisms of petitioning and influencing the government. This point of view seems to argue that lobbying is crucial to the democratic process and removing it would completely change the system. I am interested to inspect this source a bit more to find out how Smith’s ideas of transparency would affect Big Business Lobbying.