I think I agree with Rich about all of that and I’m certainly open to the Broken Windows argument for going after earmarks. But I would note that by Rich’s own accounting, appropriations lobbyists amount to only 10% of the total.

I was probably exaggerating when I said companies don’t want to lobby. But the reason many do want to lobby is that they know lobbying will pay off. Sure an earmark can bring millions to your bottom line, but the extension of a patent or copyright can bring billions. It still seems to me that it is only as a practical and tactical matter that one can say “earmarks are different.” Substantively, in terms of creating the lobbyist culture they are just one goodie among a basketful of them.

Also, as an aside, one of the things that annoys me about Regulator McCain’s black and white treatment of earmarks vs regulation is that this reform won’t affect the lobbyists who are most likely to lobby him.