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by notherthrowaway 2071 days ago
Lobbying as “too big to fail” is an interesting argument, although your “black market” argument could be made for pretty much any law. On the other hand, we know that legislation and court decisions have a large impact because we’ve witnessed the results of McCain/Feingold and Citizens United. At the same time, we can observe how other democracies manage the same issue.
1 comments
inglor_cz 2071 days ago
“black market” argument could be made for pretty much any law

Not the OP, but ... murder or genocide is very clearly a crime, while lobbying starts with "talking to an elected official about laws that concern you", which is sorta normal in democracy, the elected officials should be available to talk. It only becomes problematic if it is overdone or done too secretively.

I think that a good and transparent lobby register is probably more useful than outright ban; at least an external observer can glean some information from it.

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a1369209993 2071 days ago
> while lobbying starts with "talking to an elected official about laws that concern you"

For the purposes of discussing government corruption, "lobbying" mean "talking to an elected official about laws that concern you, with the implication that their response will affect how much and in what direction you use money to pervert the electoral process". (Obviously, corporations generally don't actually explicitly say that part, because plausible deniablity.)

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notherthrowaway 2071 days ago
We have made murder illegal and there is a “murder for hire” black market. How does that refute my point?
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