According to the former president, Americans are now experiencing "a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors."
  • edric@lemm.ee
    2·
    2 years ago

    I still don’t understand how lobbying is legal. Like, it’s straight up bribery.

    • HooPhuckenKarez@kbin.social
      2·
      2 years ago

      Lobbying is supposed to be making your case to a politician, and hoping they vote/propose a bill/etc. With that interest in mind. You yourself are allowed to lobby your congress critters…technically.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          2 years ago

          They’re surprisingly not that expensive to buy though, 10k will get you pretty much whatever you want…

          • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.mlEnglish
            2·
            2 years ago

            I wonder if I could use $10k to get a law passed that every company needs my safety manual in their business that I totally had professionally bound and didn’t print at Kinko’s.

          • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
            2·
            2 years ago

            $10k will get you access, but you won’t convince a politician to do something that will cost them all of the other $10k checks they get from special interests.

            Like if you wanted to buy a senator in order to get some earmarks for your development projects, you could probably get that buying a table at a fundraiser or two. But if you want them to pass legislation supporting unions or reducing the influence of money in politics, you’d basically have to bankroll their whole campaign because they wouldn’t raise another dime.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
              1·
              2 years ago

              No, but a bunch of Americans together have 10k, it just so happens that it’s just the conservative ones who figured it out.

    • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 years ago

      The lobbying is not the problem. The donations that sway opinions are the problem. If it was entirely unrelated to donations and the congress person was just hearing out all sides of an issue, that’s a good thing.