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Billy Tauzin is a politician, lawyer and lobbyist. Of Cajun descent, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972-1979 and the United States House of Representatives[…]

Are special interests breaking the system?

Oh you have a lobbying industry time immemorial in America. I’m not sure that they share the biggest part of the blame. Probably you can assign some blame to every institution around our government today. And I’m sure lobbyists carry their load. But again there’s . . . something else has happened that you can’t ignore. I mean listen to these debates today. Listen to a campaign for a little while. It’s not so much about what you are, about what you stand for. It’s about how awful that other guy is. And if you keep saying it over and over again, soon everybody believes it – not just about them; they believe it about you as well. And that’s . . . that’s deteriorating the fabric of our democracy, and we should all be concerned about it. Someday sooner or later we’re gonna have to, you know, build a better system or we’re gonna have to put an end to this stuff and just say, you know, as . . . as . . . as Romeo said, you know, “Plague on both your houses.” We’ll _________ find another house.

Recorded on: 9/11/07

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