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> Do you have an example of a law you think should’ve been > used to put people in prison that we didn’t pass because > of lobbying? Aside from the top
by avar 9y ago
> Do you have an example of a law you think should’ve been
> used to put people in prison that we didn’t pass because
> of lobbying?
Aside from the topic at hand, this question shows a great deal of
ignorance about how laws are written.
It's not like there's some independent agency or submission process
where people can submit completed bills, which'll only get picked up or
not depending on special interests. So we could somehow review the
difference between laws that got picked up and passed v.s. those who
didn't as some check on corruption.
Rather, the laws don't get written to begin with if they don't align
with special interests, that's how pervasive they are.
- harryh 9y agoAre you joking? People propose laws all the time. Maybe not in the specific legislative language that you need before you actually pass a bill, but certainly the general idea. Journalists do it. Think tanks do it. Advocacy organizations do it. Even regular people do it. Haven't you ever heard someone say "There should be a law against that!" ?
- avar 9y agoSo whenever someone says "there should be a law against that" that's something that should count against the GPs request for examples of laws that didn't pass? Then "annoying children in restaurants" or something equally absurd would be the #1 most requested law by that metric. I was referring to laws that would actually get presented to the legislature to vote on, which the GP is proposing as some metric, but as I'm pointing out can't be used as such because the very fact that it's made it that far is a function of special interests, think tanks etc.
- harryh 9y agoGP didn't ask about the most requested law. He asked for some examples of laws that, if they had been on the books in the financial crisis era but were prevented from being there by lobbying, would have ended up with people in prison due to their actions. He didn't say anything about "being presented to the legislature." As you make clear, the actual legislative votes aren't really all that important compared to everything that comes before that point.
- avar 9y agoThat request is just rhetorical grandstanding. There's no way for anyone to know what laws would have been realistically proposed and passed if the universe wasn't in the state that it's currently in. If you attempted to collate such a list you'd end up with an infinite amount of garbage, including but not limited to a proposed law that anyone suspected of wrongdoing be beheaded.
- harryh 9y agomarricks asserted that no one went to jail because bankers hire lobbyists to make sure that laws are written in such a way as to make the jailing of bankers impossible. Asking for a specific example of when that has happened isn't rhetorical grandstanding, it's just asking for evidence to support a claim.
- Spooky23 9y agoThink tanks and advocacy groups are synonymous with lobbyists. It’s like a “rebels vs freedom fighter” thing.
- dboreham 9y agoThe "people" proposing laws all the time are in fact paid shills. Writing laws is hard work.