In their compelling new book,
The Sound of Money: How Political Interests Get What They Want
, West and Loomis probe the connection between interest-group spending and congressional policy making.
In recent years, important battles have been fought over health care reform, telecommunications deregulation, and Medicare, to name just a few. The interest groups most successful at influencing policy are those with the most money to spend on advertising and lobbying. West and Loomis caution that as the "sound" of money in American politics grows louder, this new group activism will increasingly affect—and maybe even threaten—the viability of representative government.