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Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult  Honestly, I'm not nearly as educated on politics as some here I'm sure. I used to keep up with them quite closely, but I found it just stresses me out. You have to have a self given, nearly college level education to discus them intelligently and there is always someone who is going to jump on you with some "fact" (that's often not even correct, and represents the viewpoint of a specific side or politician so you have to know a plethora of very nuanced details as well as bigger picture issues to be informed) you don't know or have wrong.
However, yes I have a good basic understanding of the American government works, and I stand by my statement. It is the exact thing they are talking about. It's pretty simple if you are a politician and there is a group of people who want one thing, and another group of people who want the opposite thing,, but the second group of people will give you millions of dollars (in one form or another) to agree with them, throw you a party at strip club, GOP Lobbyist Found Guilty Of Bribing Hill Staffers With Strip Club Party | ThinkProgress do you agree with? It's not like this is an isolated incident, it's that this incident was too obvious not go after. This is day to day operations in the capitol. It is how the American system works.
I understand that you Brutha are maybe someone with integrity and would do the right thing as would I, but unfortunately that is not the way our system has been working. Influence is bought. Congress votes for whoever funds them, and their campaigns. Corporations, and often many corporations banded together to represent their entire industry, who make more money in an hour than I will make in an entire lifetime can buy a lot more influence than I can, and you end up with a government that represents special interest instead of people. |
My guess is that what Brutha was getting at was your failure to make a distinction between lobbying, lobbyist bribery, and campaign contributors. Lobbying itself--the act of trying to convince politicians to make legislative decisions one way or another--is not a problem. In fact, it's a key part of modern democracies. The issue is the corruption, and the fact that most lobbying in the US requires money for access in the first place. THAT is a problem, and a huge one.
"Get rid of the lobbyists" frames this in a way that, at best, fails to get to the heart of the issue.
I would also argue that the practical requirement of massive socioeconomic power for access is a fatal flaw in modern lobbying that doesn't have an easy answer.