Should lobbyists be prohibited by law from gifts to elected officials?

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With tobacco related diseases being regarded as one of the leading causes of death (preventable death) in the US, legislative measures have been considered fundamental in creation of comprehensive scheme to lower the use of tobacco and consequently reduce the number of preventable deaths. In order to achieve such an objective, campaign contributors and lobbyist (or lobbying activities) have been pointed out as two important aspects that influence the legislators’ voting conduct. The lobbyists have the capability of providing information that can influence legislators and hence influence others too to either support or reject legislations that are proposed by the national assembly. Campaign contributors on the other hand can influence the out come of the legislature by using financial incentives (contributions) in supporting candidates who share the same thoughts as them.
The contributions can also be used to buy access to the lobbyists and therefore help in augmenting the message by lobbyists and therefore sway legislators when they are elected (Jacobson et al 26). Studies that have been carried out show that the extensive lobbying and the immense campaign contributions have got an influence on the positions those legislators have on the positions they take regarding tobacco related issues (Samuels & Glantz 41). This kind of relationship has been the subject of criticism with allegations being made that the influence lobbyists and campaign contributors assert is normally to their own advantage and mostly to the detriment of the general public. This has led to constant debates of whether the government should altogether ban the act of giving gifts to elected officials by lobbyists. Are lobbyists and campaign contributors’ actions always selfish or do they also serve the interests of the general public? This paper is going to look into these questions in order to conclude whether the lobbyists should altogether be banned.  Support for the Lobby groups Lobbying generally revolves round advocating of interests that are potentially and actually affected by the government’s decision. This process is carried out by individuals or interest groups who share the same thoughts. This practise as mentioned has been considered important in ensuring the proper functionality of the US government. Additionally lobbying is fundamentally protected by the 1st Amendment which posits that the Congress shall not make any laws that prohibits the petition the rights of the people to peaceably petition the government to redress grievances. The lobbying practice is additionally considered useful in the resolution of conflicts revolving around competing views as they help in provision of information, opinions and analysis to the legislators and the government alike and hence allow them to make balanced and informed choices and therefor...