There has been a long-time practice in the private sector of paying someone to stand in line for you to get tickets for concerts and other matters.
But what if it's government?
Take committee or subcommittee hearings in the House or Senate. They have a limited number of seats. For most matters, nobody shows up. But for some issues, there is a lot of interest, especially by lobbyists. What lobbyists are doing these days is they are paying people to go stand in line for them, sometimes for more than 24 hours in advance. The result is that all or almost all the available seats are taken up by lobbyists and the general public finds it difficult to get a seat.
The U.S. Supreme Court considered that issue and in 2015 issued a rule that said you can stand in line, but you cannot stand in line for someone else. If lobbyists want to get a seat in the Supreme Court, they have to line up personally just like everybody else.
ten or fifteen years ago, one committee in Congress considered such a rule, but a lobbyist showed up and testified against it - saying his firm charges $48 an hour to send someone to stand in line for other lobbyists, and they employ homeless people to wait in line. The rule, he said, would mean a lot of homeless people would lose the few jobs they have now. His argument - paying people to stand in line is just the best possible practice of capitalism. The committee did not enact the rule.
So - is this a wonderful use of capitalism, or, because it is government, is it denial of access based on who has the most money? Or something else?
