it's not though. transferring power to lobbyists is really undemocratic. there's nothing undemocratic about voters selecting older reps. we should remove age restrictions on running though; that's undemocratic.
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Replying to @nberlat
There's an sizeable body of evidence that the power of incumbency just compounds with age, that name recognition eclipses policy, and that an apathetic electorate will just make non-meritocratically render candidates unchallengable via sheer inertia That is gerontocratic
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Replying to @Nymphomachy @nberlat
Like why does "term limits empower lobbyists" translate to "therefore gerontocracy is good" and not simply "term limits require a ban on lobbying"
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Replying to @Nymphomachy @nberlat
Banning lobbying is pretty difficult, especially if you have a constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and freedom to petition
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Replying to @arthur_affect @nberlat
I mean it still feels like a lobby-proof democracy should be the aspiration, rather than resigning oneself to lobbying as an inevitability
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It's kind of weighted as to what counts as 'lobbying.' Constitutional issues aside, what are we aspiring to ban - probably not letters from constituents or whatever.
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I mean I'm given to understand corporate interests dispense a great deal of money to elected officials
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*Bribery* is different from lobbying Bribery itself is explicitly illegal at multiple levels, including in the Constitution itself Most of the laws around lobbying are intended to try to keep anything they do from being bribery
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy and
Obviously rich people can and do look for loopholes to get around this and have ever since George Washington built his career on throwing parties at his giant plantation house But it's not clear that "not having lobbyists" would make that any better
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy and
Like, lobbying formalizes the process so that people can pool resources to do the same thing rich people can just do on their own
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Nothing can actually stop some CEO who's been friends with a Senator since college from buying him lunch or showing up after work to hang out and try to influence his opinions Lobbying just means a union or activist org opposed to that CEO can hire someone to do the same thing
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