Hey TWC,

Welcome to July. It’s been a very busy past week so I will be breaking my post up- one post about my internship placement, and a holiday post discussing the Canada Day/Independence Day celebrations.

Just a quick note- we are past the halfway point of the internship. Hard to believe we have a little over five weeks left.

As I said before, I came to an agreement with my boss not to post any real details about my internship placement. However, I can talk about some of the things I have been doing at work.

Many TWC Political Leadership students have aspirations of working in Congress in the most literal sense by interning with a Representative or Senator. I was one of those prospective interns, but I was told that Congressional offices tend to hire out of their districts or states and Americans first. During the orientation session for Political Leadership students, it became apparent that there weren’t that many interns working in Congressional offices. I only noticed three or four, but keep in mind I had only slept about six hours in the last two days so I could have been wrong.

Most of us are working in government relations or trade associations. Now, at first glance, this might not seem “political” in the typical sense, as in we aren’t working in Congressional offices. However, I’ve been shocked by the involvement that we have had in the legislative process. Since our firms all have a very broad variety of clients, our research and policy focus has been healthily varied. For that reason, I’m yet to be bored at my placement, even if the work that I was working on was somewhat mundane. In my firm, luckily, my boss asked us what our interests were, and if we had a client pertaining to whatever curiosities occupied us, we were assigned work in that field. Unfortunately, my political theory degree concentration is one hundred percent useless in the workplace (unless the Platonic Academy is established outside of Greece, whose people I do not fancy). However, being a participant in the Carleton University Model United Nations Society and a student of international relations, I have been able to do work for clients with international focus or operations.

Even though we are not working directly in the Capitol doesn’t mean we don’t spend time there- while working in my firm I have been on the Hill several times to observe committee hearings. The highlight so far is a two-way split. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), notable swift boat veteran of questionable truth and facial crag enthusiast, held a hearing on China’s status as a rising power. The Former National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski (Robert E. Osgood Professor of American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and Senior Fellow of the Cumbersome Nomenclature Institute) was set to give testimony but was unable to attend due to ill-health. This was a big disappointment to me, as Brzezinski was the architect of the Carter Doctrine, which has essentially formed the nucleus of American foreign policy for the last thirty years. However, a former US ambassador to China gave evidence at the committee, which in itself was fascinating. Additionally, Senator Kerry broke the news to all in attendance that General Stanley McChrystal had been replaced minutes after the President had decided to do so.

I can safely say that I have learned more about politics by working as a lobbyist than working in a Congressional office. Even though we are on the “outside” of Congress by operating in the private sector, we are still within the Beltway, and this cannot be forgotten. Our frequent forays into the legislative process have been indispensable learning opportunities. While it might not have the same prestige as Congress, you’ll come out far more informed and intelligent working in government relations. Leave your pretentions at home- go lobbying.

Hashem