[teeray]

I really wish there was a way for the electorate to preempt the votes of their representatives, so this kind of lobbying would be less effective. Sure, they might try carpet bombing the airwaves with PSA campaigns, but if the people really really don’t want what the lobbyist is selling, they would still be able to rip the ballot out of their congress critter’s hands and change the vote.

[voakbasda]

I would settle for representatives that actually represented the interests of the people rather than those of the wealthiest and their corporations.

[win311fwg]

That would require the people making their interests known, which would never happen in practice. The reality is that most representatives are well-intentioned and try to do the job in good faith, but only the wealthy/corporations ever give them the time of day to tell what their interests are. The representative can only work with the information they have available.

When do you think the last time the average Joe talked to their representative to communicate their interests, as is their democratic duty? The answer is, unfortunately, half past never. A representative cannot represent someone who keeps their interests a secret.

[upboundspiral]

"Never happen in practice" is objectively false given the civil rights wins of the past century. While incomplete they were real, and real change followed.

Starting with the premise that it's impossible won't improve society.

[win311fwg]

Maybe you have a certain story in mind, but the civil rights wins that everyone remembers were wins only after the people waited too long to make their interests known to their representative, completely boiled over, and threw themselves directly onto the fire to compensate. That is quite different to having regular conversations with their representative throughout the normal course of their lives so that the representative could regularly do their job with the full understanding of the people's interests.

You've pointed out something real, but it does not appear to be within the scope of our discussion.

[SoftTalker]

They arent there to represent the interests of the people. Rather, the people vote for representatives whose positions they agree with.

[mothballed]

Ballot initiative. Californians tried that to stop "gay marriage" (Prop 8) so the courts just told the people to fuck themselves and overturned it. Again in South Dakota for legalizing marijuana, the voters voted in favor by special initiative so the state just overturned it.

[hunterpayne]

Also the overturning of bail reform that the current CA state government refuses to honor or fund. Politicians seem to like the ballot initiatives until people actually use it. Then they feel free to ignore it, even continue to pass laws that go directly against it. All while somehow making enough unexplainable money that would get any of us put in prison for tax evasion.