Lobbying Should Be Illegal....!!!!!

Why is lobbying still legal? I guess the corporations want to stay in power? We shouldn't allow them to have so much power of our government's decisions. Every time the goverment makes decisions, there are corporations who pay lobbyists to influence the government to make decisions that are benefitial to them. That is an unfair advantage compared to natural people. Democracy was supposed to make us all equal. Instead, corporations have more votes then we do. It's sooooo hypocritical to say that our government is democractic... because it ISN'T. The corporations have all the power, through the lobbysts. This bullshit has got to stop!! Who's with me?!?!?!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

:grabs pointy stick: i am with you all the way

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Raises hand, yep I agree totally now pay me off!

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Only Edwards is really pushing against the lobbist this time around. What bothers me about Hillary is that she has taken huge sums from lobbists. And she defends them.

The only way to fix the problem is to make an admendment to the consitution. If by some great magic, Congress makes this a law. They most certianly will weaken and reverse the law over time when the citizens are not looking. The incentives to sell out the interests of the people is too strong.

So if you are interested, please see the attached and send me an email. We will beging the crusade!
http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=70118

 

What makes you think that if lobbying is declared illegal lobbying itself will stop?
In many countries it is illegal, but that doesn't lessen the big money influence.

 

I believe lobbying will always exist in a representative democracy. Apart from the occasional "fan mail" some of us write to our senators/congressmen, lobbyists are somewhat a of census bureau benchmark for what certain political sects view as most important. However, it's not just big corporations pulling for better legislation for themselves. There are also privately funded lobbyist groups the advocate matters of education, labor relations, and other matters that typically don't make the front page of the newspaper because they are not shocking enough to inspire readers to buy the paper. Would you rather go to Congress and lobby for a change in NLRB practices, or would a union be better suited for this type of conglomerate persuasion?

 

such is life, I really don't care as long as what they are lobbying for isn't directly detrimental to my well being, but for once I'd like somene lobbying for smaller school tuition

 

I overheard a conversation the other day with doctors discussing the problem with our health care system. The fact that we have the most expensive healthcare system but the quality of our healthcare system is substandard. The doctors attributed the reason for this is that of all the so called democracies, ours is less sensitive to its citizens and more responsive to big business and special interests.
I would call on our elected officials to observe the same standards of ethics that I am bound to with my employer. I am bound to look after the best interest’s employer…to make sure that I will not personally benefit from decisions I make that favor outside interests.
I can see lobbyist providing information only to our representatives. But I cannot see them donating large sums of money to their campaigns, paying for personal travel, hiring them as lobbyist when the leave congress; hiring their spouses and children as fellow lobbyists, etc. And this so called notion of donating money so they can get access is repulsive. They are our elected officials and they should be doing our business. If they need travel to do their business it should be paid by the tax payer. If not, they should not be getting free travel from those they are supposed to regulate. And they should not be taking jobs from those parties, nor should members of their families be hired by those special interests.
Bottom line our elected officials should be bound to the same level of ethics that we in the private industry are bound to.

 

There will always be lobbying, it is an essential part of the Democratic process. Banning it would be unconstitutional. Even if a ban somehow survived judicial review, it would just push the lobbying underground.

What we need to do is repeal all campaign finance laws. Let politicians get their money from anyone they want. Simply require that they report all donations immediately on the internet. Let the voters decide if they don't want to vote for someone based on how much money he took from someone.

 

The reason we are in the state we are into day is because of special interests buying legislation. Our foriegn policy is a mess. China can do whatever it wants. They can damage our airplanes in international waters, and sell it back to us in pieces. They can sell us poisoned foods and contaminated products without retribution. They can buy and steal trade and defense secrets. We have an out of control president spending money like is was mana from heaven....yea more of the same! I think not!!!

 

in every government everywhere it has been like this forever.

the only exception was the minoan empire.

why it is still legal - other than the obvious human traits i would wonder whether it is in our economic interest to allow large corporations to grow? (only speculation btw)

 

I think you will find parlimentary systems of government much more sensative to the needs of its citizens, and in general, much better run governments.

 

the occasional fist fight and all

 

I think the fist fights are limited to a two Asian countries.

 

Including Russia.

 

As far as I am concerned they can beat the heck out of each other as long as they deliver the goods and act in the best interests of those they represent.

 

They are making a mockery of one person one vote.
Couldn't your arguemnt above be used in relation to a dictatorship?
I don't mind as long....

 

It's not only corporations that lobby. Unions lobby, organziations that are focussed on issues like the environment lobby, etc. Also in many cases if there is one corporation or industry group lobbying for an issue then there is another lobbying for the opposite (for instance while the agricultural lobbies for subsidies for ethanol, the oil companies lobby against them).

I'm not saying that it is a good thing that corporations have undue influence, just that the issue is more complicated. I think there need to be stricter rules about what can be done by way of lobbying (e.g., the beer manufacturers of America threw a giant beer tasting party for Congress recently and were even allowed to hold the event free-of-charge on Congressional property because it was considered "educational"). I also think there need to be stricter regulations on corporate responsibility. For example, in the Abramof scandel none of the companies that paid him to illegally lobby/bribe were held accountable. But I don't think you can just get rid of all lobbying. The fact is the average congress person doesn't know shit about most issues and needs someone to be able to inform him/her as well as point out there will be repercussions with voters if they vote in a certain way.

 

Isn't that why we pay for congressional staffs to research and advise their elected official? Is that not why we have the GAO (Government Accounting Office), to conduct investigations and research for Congress? Is that not why we have the Library of Congress across the street from Congress, to help them with their research? Is that not why congress has divided itself in committees with supena power to get officials and subject matter experts to testify under oath? What makes a statement in a back room over a few beers from an subject mater expert from the industry better or more desirable than having that expert give public testimony under oath?
As for lobbists being on all sides, where is the lobbist for the American people? And who has more money thus more access (to use their terms), an enviromental group or the oil industry, the consumer or the drug industry? Where is the lobby in opposition to importing poison foods and products from China? If we are the wealthiest country in the world why does congress need to rely on lobbists for versions of the truth..especially when they have so many government funded ways of conducting research.

Just wondering?

 

Well the important issue for a congress member is not the truth (let's be realistic) it's how his or her constiuents will take something. And congress members don't represent the American people, no matter what they might claim--they represent the district or state that voted for them (and, in reality, they are only concerned with that percentage of the population that voted for them and that will or won't vote for them again). So that's the kind of information that will sway them--i.e., how will this bill benefit or hurt my constiuents. That's not the sort of research the gov't does. In fact, anything that smacks of "lobbying" or trying to change policy is often excised from the research the executive branch does.

Which is not to say some congress members (and perhaps many) don't betray that trust from time to time but when they do it's up to their constiuents to react against them & vote the bastards out. It's not a very clean system of government or a very fair one but it's the way it works. I just don't think you'll make things run more smoothly by banning all lobbying--in fact I think it would be pretty much impossible because that's the way constiuent groups make their opinions known.

As for to "opposition to importing poison foods" there are consumer groups lobbying congress all the time about issues such as that and people should support them. If not with money then by signing petitions, etc. We may be the wealthiest country on earth but unless you're willing to give even more money to the gov't you're not going to see research on the dangers of importing food products when we can't even fund enough inspectors to evaluate the quality of those products.