4 ms·

A draft being publicly available does not in any way mean it has the influence of a highly paid, well connected lobbyist. The point being that lobbying is hig

A draft being publicly available does not in any way mean it has the influence of a highly paid, well connected lobbyist. The point being that lobbying is highly effective, and the public has little chance of having it's voice heard. I hear you say: 'the voice of the people is heard at election time'. This would be the case if the very same lobbyist didn't fund the campaigns of politicians. If money can buy influence in policy making, that is textbook corruption. The other part to this is that the current (American) political system is built on top of this form of corruption, it is an integral part. I would draw a parallel to the Brazilian political system, which simply couldn't function without the corruption it is built upon. Of course the American case isn't as bad, but nor is it particularly good.

rayiner 7y ago
Lobbying isn’t “fund[ing] the campaigns of politicians.” It’s about making PowerPoint presentations to politicians’ staff.
- JohnFen 7y ago
  And making large donations to reelection campaigns.
  - rayiner 7y ago
    That’s just not true. To the extent lobbyists make donations, they do so in their individual, rather than representative capacity. Look at open secrets’ list of top lobbyists: https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=lb&showYear=2019 https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=lb&showY.... They’re not making “large donations.” Some of the top lobbyists contributed nothing. Most a few hundred to a few thousand, which is not out of line for DC residents in that economic stratum generally. In a typical election year, donations by federal registered lobbyists amount to $10-20 million total: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/01/political-donations-by-lobbyists-rising https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/01/political-donations.... In 2016, lobbyists contributed just $26 million of the $6,500 million spent in the elections. Lobbyist contributions account for a tiny portion of re-election campaigns, wholly at odds with the idea that money is what gives lobbyists influence.
    - AsyncAwait 7y ago
      I think what you're missing is that yes, Joe John working for Microsoft as a lobbyist is not directly donating, but Microsoft is donating to politicians via PACs etc. The notion that a politician is not going to give more weight to a lobbyist employed by their corporate donors is playing dense on purpose. It's a semantics game.
    - JohnFen 7y ago
      PACs and SuperPACs are donations made for lobbying purposes. Individual lobbyists may not fork over money, but any real lobbying campaign overall does.

rayiner 7y ago

Lobbying isn’t “fund[ing] the campaigns of politicians.” It’s about making PowerPoint presentations to politicians’ staff.

JohnFen 7y ago
And making large donations to reelection campaigns.
- rayiner 7y ago
  That’s just not true. To the extent lobbyists make donations, they do so in their individual, rather than representative capacity. Look at open secrets’ list of top lobbyists: https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=lb&showYear=2019 https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=lb&showY.... They’re not making “large donations.” Some of the top lobbyists contributed nothing. Most a few hundred to a few thousand, which is not out of line for DC residents in that economic stratum generally. In a typical election year, donations by federal registered lobbyists amount to $10-20 million total: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/01/political-donations-by-lobbyists-rising https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/01/political-donations.... In 2016, lobbyists contributed just $26 million of the $6,500 million spent in the elections. Lobbyist contributions account for a tiny portion of re-election campaigns, wholly at odds with the idea that money is what gives lobbyists influence.
  - AsyncAwait 7y ago
    I think what you're missing is that yes, Joe John working for Microsoft as a lobbyist is not directly donating, but Microsoft is donating to politicians via PACs etc. The notion that a politician is not going to give more weight to a lobbyist employed by their corporate donors is playing dense on purpose. It's a semantics game.
  - JohnFen 7y ago
    PACs and SuperPACs are donations made for lobbying purposes. Individual lobbyists may not fork over money, but any real lobbying campaign overall does.