"Free" Market Economics

Corporation influence on our government has been a major issue recently. Financial interest has prompted these large corporations to essentially buy out our government by donating hard money, giving legal, but unsanctioned, soft money and gifts to these representatives. This enables a huge disparity to form between the general public, policy makers and food industry. In theory the government is supposed to represent the people, but instead is lying to the general public about what is really in our foods just so these large corporations can make a bigger profit. As the Nestle article states, lobbying has always involved: 1) promoting the views of special interest groups, 2) attempting to influence government rules, laws or policies that might affect those groups, and 3) communicating with government officials or their representatives about laws, rules or policies of interest. Lobbyists, therefore, ask government officials to make rules or laws that will only benefit their clients’ companies without regard for the well-being of anyone else. Then, if a government official decides to not back these large corporations, they shut off funding to that candidate and fund someone else who does support the industry to take the incumbents place in government. This perpetually insures that these massive corporations have a say in our government with their puppet officials. Either way the general public draws the short stick and is left with: unlabeled genetically modified crops, untested foreign chemicals in food and ingredients barely anyone can pronounce. So then do we really live in a free market society? What can we do to stop corporation influence on our government?