The original concept for them is an important thing to have in a democratic system. You can’t expect politicians to be intimately familiar with the ins and outs of every industry, which leads to ineffective regulation. It makes sense to have a person whose job it is to translate the needs of the industry to the politicians.
The problems come when that person has an incentive and a sizable budget to twist policy to the advantage of shareholders rather than consumers or workers.
I agree here. The issue is that lobbyists can give donations and kickbacks. The act of lobbying isn’t a problem, it’s that lobbying as it stands right now is basically the same as legal bribery, which is the real issue.
Politicians shouldn’t be able to receive anything from lobbyists (or anybody for that matter), and be barred from working for companies connected with decisions made during their term for at least ten years.
It’s obvious looking at the US, that corruption had flourished for decades to the extreme, making politicians being entirely pocketed by large industries rather than working for the people who actually voted them in. It’s not as bad up here, but you can see how so many of our leaders chose the interests of specific businesses over the public interest.
Lobbyists as they exist now? Definitely.
The original concept for them is an important thing to have in a democratic system. You can’t expect politicians to be intimately familiar with the ins and outs of every industry, which leads to ineffective regulation. It makes sense to have a person whose job it is to translate the needs of the industry to the politicians.
The problems come when that person has an incentive and a sizable budget to twist policy to the advantage of shareholders rather than consumers or workers.
I agree here. The issue is that lobbyists can give donations and kickbacks. The act of lobbying isn’t a problem, it’s that lobbying as it stands right now is basically the same as legal bribery, which is the real issue.
Politicians shouldn’t be able to receive anything from lobbyists (or anybody for that matter), and be barred from working for companies connected with decisions made during their term for at least ten years.
It’s obvious looking at the US, that corruption had flourished for decades to the extreme, making politicians being entirely pocketed by large industries rather than working for the people who actually voted them in. It’s not as bad up here, but you can see how so many of our leaders chose the interests of specific businesses over the public interest.