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The people have political organisations of our own, you realise - I donate to a few in my country that regularly have people talking to our elected representati

The people have political organisations of our own, you realise - I donate to a few in my country that regularly have people talking to our elected representatives and the people in charge of creating Government policy. It doesn't actually cost a lot of money to lobby the Government when enough people are actually interested in a problem. The problem is broadly apathy.

gtvwill 9y ago
Yeah but your a small percentage of the population to actually have the disposable income to donate to a cause you feel is worthy. I'd love to donate money to plenty of causes, but then I wouldn't be able to eat or pay rent. So I'm at the perils of lobbyists as I can't afford to make my voice heard. Heaps democratic isn't it.
- confounded 9y ago
  I’m not sure if the percentage is as small as you think. Trade unions for example are a traditional working class way of clubbing together resources to do some lobbying. Making even small contributions is meaningful, and you have time and enthusiasm to offer, that’s worth a lot too.
imregbannd 9y ago
The problem more broady is economic incentive. There are free rider issue that we all share the rights we currently have, so no one wants to pay to keep these rights. Then there is profit incentive, there is none, either in keeping our rights or increasing them. Corporate entities however have both these incentives. Instead of non profit agencies, a better structure would be a corporation profiting from the freedoms people desire, purchase equity in the company and have a board that finds profit incentive in various freedoms and rights. Philosophically this is libertarism or anarcho-capitalism.
- confounded 9y ago
  I’ll bite. How does having limitations on your freedom depend on someone else’s profit motive, increase your liberty? Can you give any examples of how this would work, and the advantage that the profit motive brings?

gtvwill 9y ago

Yeah but your a small percentage of the population to actually have the disposable income to donate to a cause you feel is worthy. I'd love to donate money to plenty of causes, but then I wouldn't be able to eat or pay rent. So I'm at the perils of lobbyists as I can't afford to make my voice heard. Heaps democratic isn't it.

confounded 9y ago
I’m not sure if the percentage is as small as you think. Trade unions for example are a traditional working class way of clubbing together resources to do some lobbying. Making even small contributions is meaningful, and you have time and enthusiasm to offer, that’s worth a lot too.

imregbannd 9y ago

The problem more broady is economic incentive. There are free rider issue that we all share the rights we currently have, so no one wants to pay to keep these rights. Then there is profit incentive, there is none, either in keeping our rights or increasing them. Corporate entities however have both these incentives. Instead of non profit agencies, a better structure would be a corporation profiting from the freedoms people desire, purchase equity in the company and have a board that finds profit incentive in various freedoms and rights. Philosophically this is libertarism or anarcho-capitalism.

confounded 9y ago
I’ll bite. How does having limitations on your freedom depend on someone else’s profit motive, increase your liberty? Can you give any examples of how this would work, and the advantage that the profit motive brings?