2 ms·

> largest political donors You pay politicians, and you get the outcomes you want. Every other country in the world calls it bribery.

by grecy 3y ago

hulitu 3y ago
> Every other country in the world calls it bribery. This is, unfortunately, not true for the majority of "democratic" countries. They call it "lobby". They avoid to call it "conflict of interest".
- TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
  In principle, there's nothing wrong with lobbying. Legislators cannot be specialists on everything that needs to be done. Bat conservation charities lobby the government on issues related to bat conservation. Deaf associations lobby the government on issues related to education of Deaf students and Deaf accessibility. Lobbying from commercial interests is infinitely more suspect, of course, but still sometimes reasonable. The trick is to have very strong laws about openness: lobbyists should be registered, and minutes of meetings should be published. Ireland's Regulation of Lobbying Act (2015) [1] is something of a gold standard, which some other countries are considering using as a model [2]. [1]: https://www.lobbying.ie/help-resources/information-for-lobbyists/quick-guide-to-the-act/ https://www.lobbying.ie/help-resources/information-for-lobby... [2]: https://www.politico.eu/article/ireland-lobbying-clampdown-model-for-europe/ https://www.politico.eu/article/ireland-lobbying-clampdown-m...
  - pmyteh 3y ago
    There's also a need to stop lobbying being used as a cover for bribery: either openly or as a quiet quid-pro-quo. Your firm's argument for the importance of a regulatory change may be useful, but the associated $10k "donation" is just corruption. I've been reading vol. 3 of Robert Caro's biography of LBJ and the amount of illegal money routed from various Texas oil tycoons via Johnson in support of various causes is astonishing.

2 ms·

> largest political donors You pay politicians, and you get the outcomes you want. Every other country in the world calls it bribery.

by grecy 3y ago

> largest political donors You pay politicians, and you get the outcomes you want. Every other country in the world calls it bribery.

hulitu 3y ago
> Every other country in the world calls it bribery. This is, unfortunately, not true for the majority of "democratic" countries. They call it "lobby". They avoid to call it "conflict of interest".
- TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
  In principle, there's nothing wrong with lobbying. Legislators cannot be specialists on everything that needs to be done. Bat conservation charities lobby the government on issues related to bat conservation. Deaf associations lobby the government on issues related to education of Deaf students and Deaf accessibility. Lobbying from commercial interests is infinitely more suspect, of course, but still sometimes reasonable. The trick is to have very strong laws about openness: lobbyists should be registered, and minutes of meetings should be published. Ireland's Regulation of Lobbying Act (2015) [1] is something of a gold standard, which some other countries are considering using as a model [2]. [1]: https://www.lobbying.ie/help-resources/information-for-lobbyists/quick-guide-to-the-act/ https://www.lobbying.ie/help-resources/information-for-lobby... [2]: https://www.politico.eu/article/ireland-lobbying-clampdown-model-for-europe/ https://www.politico.eu/article/ireland-lobbying-clampdown-m...
  - pmyteh 3y ago
    There's also a need to stop lobbying being used as a cover for bribery: either openly or as a quiet quid-pro-quo. Your firm's argument for the importance of a regulatory change may be useful, but the associated $10k "donation" is just corruption. I've been reading vol. 3 of Robert Caro's biography of LBJ and the amount of illegal money routed from various Texas oil tycoons via Johnson in support of various causes is astonishing.