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The First Amendment protects the right to petition the government. Outlawing lobbying would require a significant campaign to amend the Constitution.
by danso 8y ago
The First Amendment protects the right to petition the government. Outlawing lobbying would require a significant campaign to amend the Constitution.
- rchaud 8y agoLobbying would be toothless without campaign contributions. Money on the table is the only reason why lobbyists get meetings and average citizens get a full voicemail inbox and templated auto-response.
- andrewla 8y agoI don't know how pedantic you're intending to be here; what do you consider a "campaign contribution". If you use the traditional definition of a "campaign contribution", that is, money given to the candidate to be spent on election campaigns, then this is completely false; lobbyists cannot give any more money to campaigns than regular people can. The power of large lobbies is more closely related to the fact that they represent a large number of constituents who donate and vote (approximately) as a block.
- Consultant32452 8y agoWhen The Young Turks spent millions of dollars in air time endorsing Hillary, was that a campaign contribution?
- rchaud 8y agoNo, for the same reason that astroturfing online about sending the troops into south side Chicago isn't a campaign contribution; it's not exchanging money for influence. With your example, Hillary Clinton would be a billionaire for doing that inane dance on Ellen.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- danso 8y agoI don't follow. Lobbying is paid for by corporations and organizations. The financial conflicts of interests that this poses on legislators is separate from campaign contributions. For instance, a legislator cannot use the latter for anything but campaign expenses [0]. But a legislator, after leaving office, can go to work for a friendly corporation (though there are laws requiring a "cooling off" period before they can directly lobby Congress). [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-pence-used-campaign-funds-to-pay-his-mortgage--and-it-cost-him-an-election/2016/07/15/90858964-49ed-11e6-bdb9-701687974517_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-pence-used-camp...