Re:Amazon in Its Prime: Doubles Profits, Pays $0 in Federal ...
by diminoten on Wednesday February 13, 2019 @05:28PM
(#19157761)
I never disagreed that it worked, I said it worked less well than people think.
And what you call soft money is actually called freedom of expression, and you're going to be a lot harder pressed than you think to prove that soft money works as directly as you're claiming.
Finally, no lobbying is not a substitute for "money in politics". That's factually wrong.
Re:Amazon in Its Prime: Doubles Profits, Pays $0 in Federal ...
by Faark on Thursday February 14, 2019 @01:14AM
(#19159983)
> And what you call soft money is actually called freedom of expression
Yes, those with more capital have more ways to express themselves. This is in conflict the spirit of democracy, were everyone has equal weight. And while democracy seems more resistant to such power imbalances than other forms of governance, it might still be beneficial for society to keep such imbalances in check.
When they were growing they lobbied against. When it became a competitive advantage they lobbied for them.
Lobbying doesn't work, not nearly as well as people think it does.
It works quite well. Both in terms of building walls to discourage competition and to write favorable changes to existing laws. It is in essence a singular force in politics. By lobbying I mean the whole campaign finance machine where rich people personally donate to a campaing and then have their companies do so too. Lobbying is just a proxy for "money in politics" and not just the official lobbyists that are registered. The soft money in politics dwarfs direct campaign contributions.
https://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/1...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/04/29/yes-y...
https://www.npr.org/2014/02/13/276448190/a-closer-look-at-ho...