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Lobbying - Legal - When rich people and businesses do it via lawyers and consultants Bribery - Illegal - When poor/unconnected people do the same thing
by TuringNYC 4y ago
Lobbying - Legal - When rich people and businesses do it via lawyers and consultants
Bribery - Illegal - When poor/unconnected people do the same thing
- whatshisface 4y agoThat's just not true, lobbying means in the clearer-cut cases simply talking to someone who's been trusted with power and the advocacy groups you'd like do it as much as any corporation or industry consortium.
- pphysch 4y ago"Lobbying" and corruption are inseparable in Washington. Lobbying is how you get access and cut deals. Where there are lobbyists, there's corruption: public interests sacrificed for special private interests (or even foreign interests). Technically you can have lobbying without corruption, but that is sadly not the reality in Washington.
- whatshisface 4y agoReplace lobbying with talking, its synonym, and the above sentences remain true while being a little clearer.
- pphysch 4y agoTalk is cheap. The difficult part is getting people to listen. Lobbying is how you get officials to listen and thereby influence their policy in your favor.
- notch656a 4y agoYes you see... you don't pay the official. You pay his good friend, who talks to the official. The good friend benefits handsomely from the wage you pay to talk. Of course the fact that the good friend is the interface to the official, and that you need money to pay the good friend, that the official himself benefits handsomely in social capital from his good friends being paid this way, and that without the good friend talking you are utterly fucked : well that's all totally not bribery. Basically Pachinko but for bribery.
- CPLX 4y agoIt’s not rocket science you give their kids jobs.
- vkou 4y agoJust one more small logical step, and you'll get to the point where you'll identify the principal problem with paid speech.
- fluoridation 4y agoAre you saying that not all lobbying is corrupt, or that no lobbying is corrupt?
- yieldcrv 4y agoAlso, in countries we consider corrupt, its often done the same way. There is rarely any bushel of cash being given for a direct political favor. Its more so incenstuous lobbying, booking out all of the rooms of the politicians hotels forever, investments in the advisors hedge funds, a high level position at a big company you helped after leaving public office..
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoIt isn't "simply talking" there is a whole lot of quid pro quo going on with arrangements for cushy jobs in the future and more flagrant gift giving.
- lelandfe 4y ago> there is a whole lot of quid pro quo going on So we're clear, things stop being lobbying and start being bribes when they are explicitly quid pro quo.
- rnk 4y agoYou are missing the "I can legally give your campaign a lot of money and it's called a campaign donation". There's a per person limit, but you can get all the execs at a company to give, you can bundle money together. Plus the "I have hidden/dark money, and I can support you via buying campaign ads to support you - or go against you if you don't do what I want".
- Retric 4y agoThe Supreme Court has ruled a campaign contribution can be considered a bribe if there exists a quid pro quo arrangement.
- edgyquant 4y agoBluntly: you are spewing ignorance because you don’t know what a bribe is compared to lobbying.
- rnk 4y agoAu contraire - you are the fool. I do know that bribes and lobbying are not the same thing, but that somehow, mysteriously, lobbying is effecting and so is making campaign donations to sway the votes of politicians.
- themitigating 4y agoBribery is illegal when any person does it and lobbying is legal for anyone as well. Why X if Y But A if B