Lobbying - your stances?

Sim Kid · 11-17-2011, 12:51 PM

Anyways I already posted a comment in another thread about Lobbying - 'fore it gets derailed away and starts talking about Lobbying, what do you all think of this?

Personally, I think it's one of the worst loophole abuses in the history of the world. Legal harassment and bribery? Screw the rules - I have money.

monstrman · 11-17-2011, 01:32 PM

lobbying is horse manure that is carried out for self interest and justified by greed.

It's bribing and harassment and nothing else, and should never have been allowed to be apart of our political system in the first place.

Kil'jaeden · 11-22-2011, 02:42 AM

It's a fancy name for organized bribery. The lobbyists write laws too, since lobbying groups and think tanks have legal people in their pay to draft and propose (to the politician they are bribing) what to introduce in the legislature. But there will not be any laws passed. Even if by some miracle a person with an honest intention to curb lobbying were elected to a seat, they could do nothing about it because the others would all be too entrenched in the system to vote yes to it. Politicians in all positions have a vested interest in lobbying for campaign contributions, not to mention lining their own pockets. Money of these people elected have connections to these big companies and PACs anyway, so of course they would be all for it. It's even okay for members of Congress to get away with what would be insider trading if it were a common person. There is too much for them in it, and no one else but those with the money and those who pass laws has any say at all in it.

Another thing that bothers me is that lobbying has its opponents, but it never becomes a big campaign issue. It may be mentioned, but it gets marginalized and nothing will ever come of it. You can get people riled up with naughty images on the internet, gay people marrying, commies infiltrating the orphanages, Noah and his dinosaurs, and such, but who goes out to vote based on lobbying stance? Or is this just ignorance on my part, and I am being too harsh on voters?

The Supreme Court also removed the need for corporations to contribute money via proxies, so those against lobbying are faced with that.

Yet another problem is that the government does not do most things on its own, it contracts third parties, usually private firms. That makes lobbying an even harder thing to fight, since the government needs these third parties to do things and they can say it creates jobs. The companies will say that too, plus that it's good capitalism. Getting nice government contracts is a part of lobbying, and the alternative means nationalizing industries and services, which will not happen, and that carries similar problems anyway.

11-17-2011, 12:51 PM	#1
Sim Kid Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: The state of Denial Gender: Posts: 8,884 Thanks: 80 Thanked 198 Times in 122 Posts	Lobbying - your stances? Anyways I already posted a comment in another thread about Lobbying - 'fore it gets derailed away and starts talking about Lobbying, what do you all think of this? Personally, I think it's one of the worst loophole abuses in the history of the world. Legal harassment and bribery? Screw the rules - I have money.

11-17-2011, 01:32 PM	#2
monstrman Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: LET'S SAAAAAVE THE WOOOORLD. Gender: Posts: 1,035 Thanks: 87 Thanked 53 Times in 42 Posts Blog Entries: 5	lobbying is horse manure that is carried out for self interest and justified by greed. It's bribing and harassment and nothing else, and should never have been allowed to be apart of our political system in the first place.

11-22-2011, 02:42 AM	#3
Kil'jaeden Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: in your mind Gender: Posts: 2,132 Thanks: 21 Thanked 146 Times in 99 Posts	It's a fancy name for organized bribery. The lobbyists write laws too, since lobbying groups and think tanks have legal people in their pay to draft and propose (to the politician they are bribing) what to introduce in the legislature. But there will not be any laws passed. Even if by some miracle a person with an honest intention to curb lobbying were elected to a seat, they could do nothing about it because the others would all be too entrenched in the system to vote yes to it. Politicians in all positions have a vested interest in lobbying for campaign contributions, not to mention lining their own pockets. Money of these people elected have connections to these big companies and PACs anyway, so of course they would be all for it. It's even okay for members of Congress to get away with what would be insider trading if it were a common person. There is too much for them in it, and no one else but those with the money and those who pass laws has any say at all in it. Another thing that bothers me is that lobbying has its opponents, but it never becomes a big campaign issue. It may be mentioned, but it gets marginalized and nothing will ever come of it. You can get people riled up with naughty images on the internet, gay people marrying, commies infiltrating the orphanages, Noah and his dinosaurs, and such, but who goes out to vote based on lobbying stance? Or is this just ignorance on my part, and I am being too harsh on voters? The Supreme Court also removed the need for corporations to contribute money via proxies, so those against lobbying are faced with that. Yet another problem is that the government does not do most things on its own, it contracts third parties, usually private firms. That makes lobbying an even harder thing to fight, since the government needs these third parties to do things and they can say it creates jobs. The companies will say that too, plus that it's good capitalism. Getting nice government contracts is a part of lobbying, and the alternative means nationalizing industries and services, which will not happen, and that carries similar problems anyway.