5 ms·

Isn't this practice called corruption in other countries? How is this legal?

• TUSF 3y ago
  It's called lobbying, and the courts consider it "free speech". Speech that says "I just spent a million dollars to inconvenience my competitors."
  • JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > It's called lobbying, and the courts consider it "free speech" No, it's called bribery. If you give a politician money it's bribery. The closest we have to this is the revolving door. Lobbying involves paying someone to give your letter to an elected. When you call your representative, you are lobbying. When the EFF engages the Congress, they are lobbying. There is campaign contributions, which go to a campaign, not the individual, and PACs, which involve buying messaging. But conflating bribery and lobbying is simply incorrect.
    • zoobab 3y ago
      There is also conflicts of interests, some of those Members of the Senate failed to disclose they own stocks in Intel.
• jcranmer 3y ago
  It's not legal, although SCOTUS has eviscerated the ability of prosecutors to prove corruption (requiring an explicit quid pro quo).
• qwytw 3y ago
  Or protectionism, which is something that to some degree accepted in pretty much every country.