6 ms·
> Money has infiltrated everything Worse, money is protected speech, and using it to buy influence is protected by the law!
by grecy 5y ago
> Money has infiltrated everything
Worse, money is protected speech, and using it to buy influence is protected by the law!
- EastOfTruth 5y agobribes/lobbying should be illegal... please get a referendum going on this subject
- jimktrains2 5y agoWhy do you want to make it illegal for me to contact my representative and voice my opinion on upcoming legislation -- that's also lobbying.
- FpUser 5y agoAs long as id does not involve money direct or indirect between "lobbyist" and the official sure go and convince your rep. Just do not promise cushy job later or for relatives or any other creative ways to buy your politicians.
- grecy 5y agoThe challenge that the USA faces is the people who have the power to change it are the very ones who benefit the most from it. There are MANY established institutions in the USA that will fight tooth and nail not to change, because the established players are getting exceedingly rich the way things are now, to the detriment of everyone else.
- matheusmoreira 5y agoYeah. How is change supposed to come when they control the system that's supposed to bring it about? If you try to fix things outside the system, you essentially become a terrorist and the government gives itself license to do unspeakable things to you.
- trollski 5y agorevolution. does not mean blood on the streets. like soviet block circa 1989-1990.
- TheFreim 5y agoLobbying is essentially a constitutionally protected right, right? Comes from the right to petition our government.
- throwawaylinux 5y agoWhen that happens, people will have even less recourse against media, internet and social media companies using their power to influence.
- lazyasciiart 5y agoWhat do you mean, "when that happens"? It's the law today.
- throwawaylinux 5y agoI must have intended to reply to one of the replies to you calling for it to be outlawed.
- bitwize 5y agoIt's time to repeal the First Amendment. It's probably time to repeal the entire Bill of Rights, and replace it with a framework that allows the government to restrict the exercise of rights when and as much as required to protect public safety or the mechanism of democracy. All functioning democracies (which the USA is not) have such a framework in place. In Canada it's famously called the Notwithstanding Clause. Well, maybe not all. We can keep the Third Amendment as a souvenir.
- eloisius 5y agoI can’t tell if this is sarcasm. The solution to corruption in government is to give even more powers to the government to restrict the exercise of rights?
- colejohnson66 5y agoThe fact that they’re suggesting we keep the Third Amendment (which is, for all intents and purposes, useless), but get rid of the rest leads me to believe it’s sarcasm. If someone was serious about “repealing” the Bill of Rights, they probably haven’t read it and don’t know anything more than the First and Second.
- bitwize 5y agoOh no, I think the entire Constitution actually needs to be rethought if we intend to do something about corruption in the system. It's clear that the USA is a failed state -- the Constitution hampers the government from doing good, necessary things (like implementing universal health care, strong consumer and worker protections, protecting against hate speech, etc.) while allowing corruption to run rampant. It needs to be replaced. Something like a proportional representation, multiparty parliamentary system. While we're at it we may as well rejoin the Commonwealth, because the Crown has one non-ceremonial power that can be used to fight corruption, that no person or body has in the U.S. government: the power to disband the government and force the institution of another by democratic means. If you think this sounds familiar, you're right: New Zealand is practically an ideal model of how to form a modern, practical, democratic government that reasonably respects personal freedom and public safety and security. Their example should be followed elsewhere, especially in the USA.
- throwaway6734 5y agoThe negative influence of Big Money in politics has been proven to be vastly overblown. Small dollar donations ar much more dangerous as they tend to come from the most engaged & partisan members of society and encourage pols to be much more extreme in their rhetoric
- Frost1x 5y agoWhere is the proven evidence of this? I find this very difficult to believe, otherwise.
- throwaway6734 5y agoBig money pulled their donations from the GOP after 1/6. Look at [Marjorie Taylor Greene's fundraising](https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/marjorie-taylor-greene/summary?cid=N00044701 https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/marjorie-tay...)
- akudha 5y agoAre you not watching Sinema and Manchin? Two people (maybe another half dozen, quietly) holding up legislation that much of the country wants to pass
- throwaway6734 5y agoYou think they're the only two Democratic Senators or house members that don't want this legislation? I don't. They're cover and the lightning rods for other reps in swing states. Also, a large chunk of the country does not want this legislation to pass (I'd even go as far as to say potentially a majority).
- akudha 5y agoTwo people (maybe another half dozen, quietly) No, I believe it is more than two democratic senators, I don't know how many. That is why I put half dozen, in parenthesis. Poll after poll shows the legislation is popular, even in Manchin's own state. Same in Arizona. What provisions of the bill do you disagree with?
- refurb 5y agoExactly! Bloomberg spent $1B on his nomination for president and… it failed entirely.
- plebianRube 5y agoI don't think he had any expectation or interest in winning. He bought his way in to divert votes from other nominees. Spend a billion to save 10 billion.
- hellbannedguy 5y agoHow would he save money?
- missedthecue 5y agoWhy not just spend a billion on the Biden campaign then and save yourself the campaign trail headaches?
- spacemanmatt 5y agobecause it wouldn't work as well as what he actually did
- Invictus0 5y agoHardly evidence of anything... It's one thing to spend money, another thing entirely to spend it properly.
- refurb 5y agoThis is the exact attitude I’m talking about. It happened with AB 5. Money is just used as an excuse for when voting doesn’t go the way someone expected or wanted.