[M_Grey]

I'm sorry, but no. A business can have interests that are obviously and deeply evil, such as in a very extreme example, the production of Zyclon B for the Nazis. It is a myth that earning money somehow insulates you from being scum, and if you're acting against the interests of literally everyone except yourself and at their direct expense, you might be scum.

If you're saying that's right, I'd argue the point strenuously. It's also wrong when our elected officials, predictably, bend.

[John23832]

Even scum have the right to lobby for their interest...

[M_Grey]

Even IG Farben did?

[John23832]

That's strawman, IG Farben was a company in Nazi Germany, which had different laws and different rights.

If you want a better example, yes, Haliburton, GSK, and Koch, all have the right to lobby in their best interests (at least in the US).

[M_Grey]

...And Enron, and Goldman, and all of the companies that tanked us in 2008. Right? Where is this right spelled out exactly, except in the fiction that corporations are people without the responsibilities?

[JoshTriplett]

Whether you believe in the Citizen's United decision or not, companies are still groups of people. People, alone or in groups, have the right to speak, and to petition the government.

[M_Grey]

Lets not pretend that a lobbying organization is somehow representing anything other than the company and its shareholders.

[John23832]

(Even though I disagree with it) Many courts interpretations of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC

Lobbying is speech. You can't just censor people you disagree with. That's not the basis of our democratic society. The price of being able to speak what you think is good, is having to hear what you think is bad.

[maxerickson]

I think most of this thread is explained by people not realizing you were making a banal first amendment argument.

[M_Grey]

That would be the aforementioned fiction I was expecting you'd trot out. You really are just abandoning anything like a moral or intellectual dimension of responsibility in favor of pure legalism, up to and including IG Farben in Nazi Germany?!

That's not really a position, it's a tragedy.