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Revealed: how the fossil fuel industry helps spread anti-protest laws across the US
(www.theguardian.com)
Lobbying is corruption
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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100% - specially in the USA, it is 100% legalized, coordinated bribery
The first amendment of the US Constitution gives citizens the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Lobbying itself isn't necessarily, fundamentally, a bad thing.
What has happened is that 200+ years of social mores, and laws/regulations written to protect and benefit capital (capped off with Citizens United) have resulted in a level of corruption that's difficult to even comprehend. It has become legalized bribery.
But even if money does not exchange hands... if I have a million dollars to organize a group of lawyers, PR experts, propagandists, etc. I can still generate and undue impact in legislation that would be hard to match by any regular family voicing their opinion on their own accord
I agree with the first amendment but I think funding a full think tank and funneling "my voice" through a paid army is twisting the goal of the first commandment... and that is before the open bribery that we do see nowadays
Lobbying is bribes, plain and simple, and people shouldn't be complacent with it and think of it as "just a part of politics". No, it's not. It's fucking bribes.
bribes are part of politics
US politics, and it shouldn't be
It’s almost like they know they’re doing something morally reprehensible.
It's odd that I find this incredibly encouraging. It tells me that for all the negative coverage, the protests must be working.
“Draft bill attached,” wrote a lobbyist representing two influential fossil fuel trade groups to the lead counsel for the West Virginia state energy committee in January 2020.
Remember things like this the next time someone says that groups like JSO don't work and should stop. I'm convinced that a lot of the negative press around them is driven, at least in part, by the petrol companies to try and turn the public against them.