Perhaps you’ve never heard of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The MEK is a terrorist group in Iran and Iraq. The State Department has declared them terrorists, making all commerce with them highly illegal. The MEK are radical Shiites who run their organization like a cult, and just to keep it interesting, they are also feminist Marxists.
Most sensible Americans agree that foreign lobbyists are a pox on the nation, but few realize how egregious the process has become. American citizens should be able to band together to lobby Congress for their interests, but not foreign agents without proper supervision by law enforcement.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was passed in 1938 to keep track of the no-good foreign skunks who attempt to subvert the American people’s will in favor of a foreign power. Everyone agrees that politicians should only be bribed by US citizens; otherwise, the “lobbying” should be called “espionage.” Everyone agrees, it seems, except for the politicians.
Modern politicians hate FARA, which was defanged in 1966. Nobody has been successfully prosecuted under the Act since then. By 1995 with the passage of the Lobbying Disclosure Act, it became legal for foreigners to directly lobby a congressman so long as they tell everybody about it. Prior to 1966, foreign agents were not even allowed to disseminate propaganda aimed at changing government policy. After 1995, foreigners can disseminate all the propaganda they like without any government oversight. Foreign lobbyists are still legally obligated to register with the Justice Department, but it wasn’t until 2007 that information on them was made public on the Internet. Prior to that, reporters had to pay hefty fees to examine the information in a room in DC.
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