2 ms·
Actually, in all of those cases it's the people with the most money. On abortion in particular, you've got a silent majority and an extremely vocal minority.
by jbooth 16y ago
Actually, in all of those cases it's the people with the most money. On abortion in particular, you've got a silent majority and an extremely vocal minority. I'm pro-choice and have never donated to planned parenthood, not because I don't support them, but just because I'm not that motivated on the subject.
Business vs labor, I'm not going to bother to try and write a thesis tracking down the funding but I would suspect that there's more money on the business side. Heard of "Americans for Prosperity"?
Same with healthcare. Note that Obama spent significant effort courting the health insurance lobby for his bill, combined with a little courting of labor and no courting of consumer advocates.
Environmental regulation? The oil industry vs Sierra Club? Please.
Immigration, I'm not even familiar with the sides involved, the minutemen don't seem organized enough to lobby effectively.
- tzs 16y agoNote that in most of those cases, the side that you attribute the most lobbying to is the side that is trying to reverse current law. The pro lifers are trying to reverse the current pro choice laws. The oil industry is trying to get rid of environmental regulation. Under the article's thesis, we'd expect most of the lobbying to be from the supporters of the current laws, trying to strengthen them.
- jbooth 16y agoOil industry's had a few successes, notably a boatload of tax exemptions and subsidies that were started under the Bush administration. Given that everyone's talking about the deficit right now, you'd think those would be on the chopping block, wouldn't you? Wonder why not. Most of the lobbying is from people who are seeking an outsized return on their lobbying. Decisions worth billions to an industry can be influenced for mere hundreds of thousands.