Weeds among the grass roots

A grass-roots movement -- "grown from the soil of people's hard necessities," which is what Senator Albert Beveridge, Indiana, who coined the phrase, said in 1912 of the Progressive Party. "This party has come from the grassroots."

The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting  is natural and spontaneous, according to a Wikipedia entry. However, a "grass-roots" movement of  so-called "energy citizens" is slated to begin rallying next week at spontaneous events organized by the American Petroleum Institute, the American Farm Bureau, the American Highway Users Alliance, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, the American Conservative Union and Americans for Tax Reform, among others with an interest in seeing an energy/climate bill more to their liking.

There is nothing wrong with industry and advocacy groups seeking to influence legislation. But flying the banner of a grass-roots movement is disingenuous -- although certainly not unprecedented in a political world where words are used to obscure rather than to clarify, and the truth can be a slippery thing.