[bluefirebrand]

> I had a professor in college who was big on entrepreneurship. So he formed an organization, got others involved, went to Washington to lobby his rep. His rep said “let’s do it”, and sat him down with her staff to write a bill. That bill was brought to the floor for a vote and passed. Until you’ve done that, dont complain the system doesn’t work

This is a sign of the system not working. A well connected professor, with plenty of free time to form an organization and go to Washington to talk to his rep

Might as well be an industry lobbyist.

Could a worker from Walmart do the same thing? In theory sure. In practice unlikely, for any number of reasons. Not least because people are unlikely to take a Wal Mart worker seriously enough to join their organization.

[saligne]

And because workers at the bottom with no rights and no money are fired as soon as they try to organize anything beyond their continued immiseration

[AlecSchueler]

> A well connected professor, with plenty of free time

And not only that but one who was "big on entrepreneurship!" Guy wasn't really rocking the boat, was he?

[refurb]

Well connected? A professor at a small college from a town of 15,000?

Nope. She had been working on entrepreneurship for a while so had met her reps years ago. No money involved. Hell, not even from a very big state.

[brimwats]

This seems like fantastic fantasy or fanfic, but unless you have a citation or some actual names, I think I'll put it down to fiction

[bluefirebrand]

Even at smaller institutes, professors have access to way more networking events than many other people would ever even come close to

[refurb]

I mean this professor does because they put the work in to build a network.

Nothing stops the average citizen from organizing and getting similar access to representatives.

Instead we get people who don’t even know who their representative is claiming they’re sure the whole system is rigged.

It’s not that different than people who claim there are no jobs when they haven’t even applied to any.

[bluefirebrand]

> Nothing stops the average citizen from organizing and getting similar access to representatives

I disagree pretty strongly. There are tons of soft power social levers and bureaucratic structures designed exactly to prevent your average Joe from getting access to representatives

Even a comparatively powerful person like a wealthy CEO of a big company often experiences friction trying to get access to public servants. That's why they hire lobbyists whose job it is to get past the friction

[refurb]

You’re mistaking “barriers” with logical prioritization.

Of course the groups that represent larger voting blocks get easier access - that makes perfect sense.

But like the example I gave - the access is possible. Most people who complain about a lack of access never tried.