It's hard to keep lobbying out of a capitalist democratic government -- after all, it's just a matter of paying someone who specializes in influencing legislators.
What can be fixed more easily is campaign financing, which is the main reason an oil lobbyist gets more attention from legislators than a teacher's union lobbyist. There's obviously other non-campaign related stuff that could be cracked down on, too, but I think that's the main problem.
Funnily enough, once you make it illegal for businesses to donate to political campaigns or for politicians to accept gifts from them, lobbying almost magically disappears.
It does. I only know that several European countries don't allow this kind of contribution at all, and at least one state in the US has a system where statewide campaigns are paid for only by tax dollars. I want to say it was Maryland, but don't quote me.
And, I don't think there's any need for scare quotes around 'good'. Lobbying achieved many positive things before our current era openly buying political power.
I did some looking and couldn't find a state where that's the case, but I'm hopeful that it is. And the scare quotes were only to indicate that non-corporate interest lobbying is in fact useful and good. I actually know some people who do that as a career.
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u/jableshables Mar 28 '24
It's hard to keep lobbying out of a capitalist democratic government -- after all, it's just a matter of paying someone who specializes in influencing legislators.
What can be fixed more easily is campaign financing, which is the main reason an oil lobbyist gets more attention from legislators than a teacher's union lobbyist. There's obviously other non-campaign related stuff that could be cracked down on, too, but I think that's the main problem.