Lobbying works because politicians need money for campaigns (and/or private jets, depending on how cynical you are). Companies have a lot of money, and lobbying a bill that is beneficial to your company can save orders of magnitude of money. The internet at large does not really have the sums of money needed to compete. Arguably, it doesn't have the attention span either.
And to be entirely fair, not all lobbying is entirely corrupt. Some lobbying is just putting money into the hands of politicians whose views coincide with the best interest of your company. You want your company to succeed, Politician XYZ generally supports ideas that are beneficial to your company, so you support that candidate financially so he stays in office.
Of course, there is obviously a lot of corrupt lobbying going on too.
You want your company to succeed, Politician XYZ generally supports ideas that are beneficial to your company, so you support that candidate financially so he stays in office.
I think that qualifies as corruption, it is promoting a specific agenda that is beneficial to you over others and using insider influence to do so. It is just pre-issue as opposed to post-issue. It's kind of like the Mob paying off the cops just in case they need them. They are still in the pocket of the influence.
Is it corruption to vote for politicians that support your beliefs, such as gay rights? Is it corruption to donate money to those campaigns to help their chance of being elected?
I'm not writing a blank check for all lobbying. It is a clearly broken industry with absolutely enormous power, far greater than it really should have. But it is also a fundamentally democratic principle.
Comments
I'm wondering, could we disrupt this entire lobbying "industry" with the Internet?
Unqualified answer, but probably not.
Lobbying works because politicians need money for campaigns (and/or private jets, depending on how cynical you are). Companies have a lot of money, and lobbying a bill that is beneficial to your company can save orders of magnitude of money. The internet at large does not really have the sums of money needed to compete. Arguably, it doesn't have the attention span either.
And to be entirely fair, not all lobbying is entirely corrupt. Some lobbying is just putting money into the hands of politicians whose views coincide with the best interest of your company. You want your company to succeed, Politician XYZ generally supports ideas that are beneficial to your company, so you support that candidate financially so he stays in office.
Of course, there is obviously a lot of corrupt lobbying going on too.
You want your company to succeed, Politician XYZ generally supports ideas that are beneficial to your company, so you support that candidate financially so he stays in office.
I think that qualifies as corruption, it is promoting a specific agenda that is beneficial to you over others and using insider influence to do so. It is just pre-issue as opposed to post-issue. It's kind of like the Mob paying off the cops just in case they need them. They are still in the pocket of the influence.
It's a grey area.
Is it corruption to vote for politicians that support your beliefs, such as gay rights? Is it corruption to donate money to those campaigns to help their chance of being elected?
I'm not writing a blank check for all lobbying. It is a clearly broken industry with absolutely enormous power, far greater than it really should have. But it is also a fundamentally democratic principle.
Like a "Kickstarter for public policy"?