The mantra of the Republican Right's theory of governments is, of course, local control. Party leaders like Tom DeLay and Dick Armey insist that many functions of federal government can be better executed by state and local government, and right-wing ideologues have argued recently that Congress ought to sit for only six months a year. They are backed by business, notably the insurance industry, which has fought for years to preserve state regulations, as opposed to control from Washington. A recent investigation by the watchdog group Center for Public Integrity shows that the conservative model is in place and chugging away. To right-wingers, these are the citizen politicians who put their shoulders to the wheel to help their fellow citizens.
Government is a hobby.
Since most states don't take government very seriously, numerous legislators represent the business and professional interests they supposedly regulate. About 18 percent have financial ties to businesses or other groups that lobby state government. A quarter get income from a government agency, with some receiving salaries from agencies they helped fund as legislators. In certain states the legislatures are veritable appendages of business. In North Carolina, for example, of 148 legislators in 1998, the Center reported that about two-thirds sat on committees that directly affected their private income.