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by ancode 1674 days ago
If only they had the power to actually enact legislation
1 comments

This sort of cynicism is confusing. Bringing attention to an issue is an obvious component of enacting legislation when there are many different topics competing for that attention in the legislature.

If it was a resolution passed by the full house calling on Amazon to be nice guys, well then okay, be as cynical as you want about that.

>when there are many different topics competing

The number one thing competing from legislature's time is creating soundbytes that make them seem tough. So many bills are intentionally politically infeasible because people vote for politicians based on what they say rather than what they accomplish. They don't have any time left to learn about areas that they aren't particularly passionate about, so they'll just listen to that intelligent-sounding Amazon lobbyist has to say about how a bill would destroy a million jobs.

Passing bills is another component - quite an important one. The federal government currently faces challenges getting bills through.