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Re:All Political Ads Run on Google in the US by JumpCrisscross on Friday October 25, 2024 @06:21PM (#41950417)
> When lobbying and gerrymandering is legal

Have you ever given money to the EFF? They're lobbyists. Call your represenatative? That's lobbying. Lobbying, i.e. constituents talking to electeds, is fundamental to democracy.

Re:All Political Ads Run on Google in the US by rurp on Friday October 25, 2024 @06:43PM (#41950597)
A huge industrial corporation spending millions on lobbyists in order to make it easier to dump pollutants into the environment without consequence, increasing their profits at the expense of local populations, is also a form of lobbying. I would bet that amoral corporate lobbying accounts for far more activity than good mission driven orgs like the EFF.
Re:All Political Ads Run on Google in the US by JumpCrisscross on Friday October 25, 2024 @06:50PM (#41950644)
> huge industrial corporation spending millions on lobbyists in order to make it easier to dump pollutants into the environment without consequence, increasing their profits at the expense of local populations, is also a form of lobbying

Yes. You're describing a policy disagreement between a polluter and everyone else. Pick any political system and you'll have the same divide. (Again, lobbying involves hiring someone to present the case to an elected. It's categorically distinct from giving to a PAC or campaign.)

> would bet that amoral corporate lobbying accounts for far more activity than good mission driven orgs like the EFF

I mean sure, for a given value of "good." Social policy lobbying tends to vastly outstrip commercial lobbying, in part because the latter is more focussed.