[aksss]

I know I may catch shit for this but lobbying is not synonymous with corruption. Lobbying, lobbying groups and lobbyists actually serve a very valuable role in the interface between the government and the people their rules impact. Like every endeavor, bad actors can give the whole system a negative stereotype but judging anything by its worst examples is not a reasonable way to assess that thing. And no, I’m not in anyway a lobbyist or associated with that industry.

[p1esk]

Lobbying is not the problem, money changing hands is. In its current form, lobbying works through campaign contributions (and potentially other favors). These are not “worst examples”, it’s standard practice. Why do you think a politician would listen to someone representing Comcast’s interests? Prohibit campaign contributions and you will have politicians listen to what regular people want a lot more.

[bluGill]

Politicians listen to lobbyists because it is impossible for a human to understand all laws they pass. I'm in favor of things like the "read the bills act", but the only thing they really do is allow time for groups interested in the law to read the final text and mobilize their members to write vote X on the bill letters.

Sure I can read one bill and understand the details, but it would take more months than there are in a session (2 years) to UNDERSTAND all the bills congress passes. If I were a lawyer I could understand them a little faster, but not enough to make a difference.

The result is congress needs trusted experts to write the laws for them. Very few people are experts in anything useful that they are not paid for. (the exceptions are things like movie watcher - which congress is already as much an expert as everyone else)

[eru]

Compare and contrast https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/18/too-much-dark-money-in...

[pengstrom]

It's giving groups with money outsized influence, undermining the democratic process. It's corruption.

[hanniabu]

> lobbying is not synonymous with corruption

No, but I'd wager is just as often as not