| The trouble with lobbying is - where do you draw the line? Do I, an individual citizen, have a right to petition my elected representatives? Do I, an individual citizen, have a right to organize with fellow citizens to petition my elected representatives? Do I, an individual citizen, who owns a business, have a right to organize with fellow citizens who own similar businesses to petition my representatives? The problem with lobbying is a fundamental issue with representative democracy, not with the American political system. Lobbying by monied interests is simply more overt in the American system. I can't think of a Western democracy where industry interests don't have a huge say in the legislative and even executive processes. From the perspective of the politician, they are looking out for their constituents by helping out industrial interests, because in their eyes, that means jobs and development. I agree there is a huge problem with the outsized influence of industry in the political realm, but I think it's a very complicated problem to untangle. The only way we have to fight it is to organize ourselves, which is usually extremely difficult. |