Our lobbyists don’t always advocate for what we want them to.

Americans often express concern about the lobbying profession, and they should, but not necessarily for the reasons most think. The majority of people are represented by lobbyists, though they do not always realize it. The problem is that lobbyists may not always be lobbying in the best interests of the people they represent. In new research which examines lobbying on bills in the US Congress, Thomas T. Holyoke finds that in 15 percent of cases lobbyists apparently lobbied against the interests of those they represent.