Rand Paul announced his candidacy for President today and declared he wants to “take our country back from the special interests”.  While I suspect he will not be elected, I do support his opinion that professional lobbyists, advocates, associations, and basically hired guns control and dominate today’s political system – primarily the legislative branch.  If anyone doubts this, I encourage them to sit in on few hearings at the California State Capitol and witness the parade of special interest groups that appear daily and weekly to testify on bills that were either just out in print; just amended; will be amended in committee, or amended in the next committee.   I call them special interest groups because it is an industry that has been created in response to the complex and complicated legislative process in Sacramento and the players are very specialized and speak the arcane and scripted language that is required to participate effectively.

I wish Dr. Paul luck – he will need it.