[jjoonathan]

It walks like a bribe, it talks like a bribe, it quacks like a bribe, it flaps like a bribe, it lies like a bribe, it hides like a bribe, it looks like a bribe, it feels like a bribe, it smells like a bribe, what is it?

Lobbying, duh. Definitely not a bribe.

It's pretty wild that legal lobbying + the realities of campaign finance effectively mean that our government has instituted a policy of mandatory bribery. I mean, democracy is always going to have warts, but this one is really special.

[duped]

You're 100% right except for one thing - you're describing campaign finance, not lobbying.

[jjoonathan]

Totally not a duck!

(quack)

Seriously, though, go on. I'm dying to hear how you've got a definition of "lobbying" that cleverly gerrymanders around all the corrupt dealmaking and only includes purely informational communication. I can't wait to hear why we should confuse this definition -- which seems precision-engineered to deflect blame away from certain shortfalls in our political apparatus -- with the common usage of the term, which frequently refers to real life events and therefore inevitably includes a great many situations where the thing going "quack" is, in fact, a duck.

[duped]

Lobbying is advocacy. If you call your congressperson you're lobbying. If the ACLU files an amicus brief in a SCOTUS case that's lobbying. When the NRA hosts events for their members to speak to congresspeople that's lobbying.

Registered lobbyists work for interest groups to have their voices heard. It's not always innocent, but it is not the same problem as campaign financing. Money is not changing hands.