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Plenty of billionaires are passionate about stopping climate change. They can afford to buy double priced fuel for their mega-yacht, but they can't buy the safe

by Aunche 3y ago

Plenty of billionaires are passionate about stopping climate change. They can afford to buy double priced fuel for their mega-yacht, but they can't buy the safety of the Great Barrier Reef. If lobbying is such a silver bullet, then why do their lobbyists lose out to those of oil companies? It's because the lobbyists are oil companies are correct in the one thing that actually matters when it comes to politics: voting for any policy that substantially decreases greenhouse gases would be career suicide. Voters get upset at their politicians when gas prices rise completely unrelated to policy. Imagine how they would react if gas was taxed as much as it was in Europe.

_8j50 3y ago
Their lobbyists shouldn't fight oil and gas lobbyists. This is not an oligarchy. Billionaires should have the exact same amount of influence over congress as does a broke homeless guy on the streets of SF.
- Aunche 3y ago
  The difference is that the lobbyists that the billionaires hire is an expert on policy, and your average broke homeless has never looked at the text of a law. Hell, do you think that any legislator who spends 90% of their time virtue signaling or politicking has read the ~1000 pages of the CARES Act or ACA before voting on it? They outsource much of this work to lobbyists. Voters demand things like free antivirals and lower gas prices, and they shut up when politicians superficially satisfy these demands while doing the minimal due diligence, so corporate lobbyists can take advantage of this. When people genuinely care about things after than virtue signaling about caring, they are able to using lobbying as a force of good, which is how we got Civil Rights and the Clean Air Act.
  - _8j50 3y ago
    Congress persons have aides that report to them which are experts on policy. It is utterly corrupt to have an unelected 3rd party that does not work for the government directing and advising on policy. This isn't a company where you hire consultants to do stuff, it's the people's governmemt. The people did not consent to corruption. There are plenty of homeless people that are qualified to have an opinion on policy. Pretending perverse incentives don't exist is facilitating corruption.

by Aunche 3y ago

_8j50 3y ago

Their lobbyists shouldn't fight oil and gas lobbyists. This is not an oligarchy. Billionaires should have the exact same amount of influence over congress as does a broke homeless guy on the streets of SF.

Aunche 3y ago
The difference is that the lobbyists that the billionaires hire is an expert on policy, and your average broke homeless has never looked at the text of a law. Hell, do you think that any legislator who spends 90% of their time virtue signaling or politicking has read the ~1000 pages of the CARES Act or ACA before voting on it? They outsource much of this work to lobbyists. Voters demand things like free antivirals and lower gas prices, and they shut up when politicians superficially satisfy these demands while doing the minimal due diligence, so corporate lobbyists can take advantage of this. When people genuinely care about things after than virtue signaling about caring, they are able to using lobbying as a force of good, which is how we got Civil Rights and the Clean Air Act.
- _8j50 3y ago
  Congress persons have aides that report to them which are experts on policy. It is utterly corrupt to have an unelected 3rd party that does not work for the government directing and advising on policy. This isn't a company where you hire consultants to do stuff, it's the people's governmemt. The people did not consent to corruption. There are plenty of homeless people that are qualified to have an opinion on policy. Pretending perverse incentives don't exist is facilitating corruption.