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I guess I can understand why someone would want to be a lobbyist if they were trying to gain support for something that was actually good (imagine that), but when I hear about people who lobby politicians for bad stuff, it really makes me scratch my head.
And you know what kind of stuff I’m talking about. I don’t even need to go into it…
It’s such a weird job to me.
But today we’re gonna get to the bottom of this.
So why is lobbying legal?
AskReddit users talked about this. Let’s take a look.
1. Good question.
“Why are people with a lot of money allowed to pay people of power to influence their decisions?
From what I read on the internet, it’s different from bribery because it’s money paid by the people, for the people.
Though, from what I read these lobbyists do not have the best interest of the people at heart.”
2. Breaking it down.
“The simplest and most basic definition or form of lobbying is simply presenting some reasons to convince a politician of why you think they should vote a certain way. Writing a letter to a politician is a simple form of that, and of course, people should be able to voice their concerns to politicians, so this should be legal.
The word “lobbying” comes from the idea of physically going to the politicians headquarters, entering their lobby, which is open to the public, and asking to schedule a meeting with the politician. It would be awkward and unethical if no one was allowed to have an audience with a politician and wasnt allowed to speak to them.
The more common use of the term lobbying usually involves some kind of motives or incentives, which may or may not be ethical. Often, some of these are gray areas, and would be difficult to detect or enforce. Here are some examples, which might illustrate the differences.
Bribery: “Mr. Politician, I will give you this briefcase of cash if you vote ‘Yes’ on the Federal bill tomorrow, which will help my business.
This is obviously bad and should lead to arrest.
Ethical Lobbying: “Mr. Politician, if you vote ‘Yes’ on the Federal bill tomorrow, it will help my business, but it will also create 5,000 jobs, which helps the people.
This is actually great. Nothing wrong happening at all here.
Slightly less ethical lobbying “Mr. Politician, if you vote ‘Yes’ on the Federal bill tomorrow, it will help my business, and also create 5,000 jobs in your district. it could help you get re-elected, while spending Federal money instead of money from your district”.
This is a gray area. The politicians job is to represent his district and improve conditions for them. however there is certainly some selfish motivations here as well. imo, this scenario is ultimately ok and it is ethical, but its worth at least a little scrutiny.
Unethical lobbying: “Mr. Politican, if you vote ‘Yes’ on the federal bill tomorrow, it will increase the value of the stock you happen to be invested into with your retirement fund.
This is also a gray area. The politician has a right to a retirement fund, but voting for solely their own benefit is obviously unethical. This may warrant an investigation to see what actions may have crossed the line, such as insider trading.
Ultimately, its the duty of the people to elect politicians who will behave in an ethical manner. If they dont, we should “fire” them by petitioning for a recall election, or at least not re-electing them. As long as unethical politicians are in office, it is an indicator of a failure of the people to do their duty at the ballot box.”
3. A big issue.
“There is another issue, in that lobby organisations might influence elections. A lobby organisation can support politicians who they agree with.
Either by contributing to their campaign funds, or just running a campaign, either for them, against their opponent or just for issues that they know will help “their” candidate. So it is not so much that they are paying politicians, as it is paying so that the politician doesn’t have to spend their money. And in theory it is not about paying politicians to agree, but rather paying politicians who already agree.
In practice though, it is very hard to make any clear distinctions between these things, and it is also hard to make clear line between lobby organisations out for the general good, and lobby organisations that just out for the profit of a handful of companies.
It can be regulated though. Many countries have strict laws around campaign contributions, and what kind of political adds you can run.”
4. The pay off.
“They have a lot of ways to pay off politicians. They have gotten more creative about it but still happens. The answer given is out of a child’s text book but ultimately the answer is correct.
All political offices should have individual term limits. Like you can be a senator for only two terms your whole life. Not be voted in for 20 years because yours is the only name dumb f**ks remember.”
5. Anyone ethical left?
“Once you get past municipal elections (and sometimes not even that far), nobody is ethical, they’ve all been too corrupted by how the game is played and the power they have. In municipal elections you have people who genuinely care for their community and want to make a difference.
But once you get to the higher levels, they’re career politician who have to do unethical things just to get to where they are. I don’t believe you can get to that level and still be ethical. Think about how many cops let power go to their heads, and they have a fraction of the power a politician has. How do you become Senator or President without selling your soul along the way?
Even in Canada, our Prime Minister got elected and seemed like a young, caring person who wanted to help the people out. And it’s been ethical disaster after ethical disaster with him, and he’s Liberal (the “good people party” as most of Reddit sees it).
I can’t help but believe that in order for ethical politicians, we’d have to restructure the entire system and how it works. I don’t see how it works under our current system.”
6. Good things can come of it.
“The origin of it makes perfect sense and is entirely ethical:
You own a small business making gummy bears. You hear Congress is considering putting a tariff on one of your main ingredients- this would raise your costs and maybe put you out of business. Of course, the congresspeople who will vote on this legislation don’t know the gummy bear business so they have no idea of the consequences.
So you get together with a bunch of other gummy bear companies and send someone to go to Congress and try to make sure they see your side of the issue before it’s too late. Good things can come from lobbying. It’s the abuse of the system that’s a problem.”
7. The straight dope.
“Simplest answer? Because it has not been made illegal.
A bit more nuanced answer? Because we are allowed — and should be allowed — access to the people whom we have elected to write our laws. These politicians are not experts in every possible thing, so lobbyists are there (in theory) to explain their point of view so the politician can decide.
Unfortunately a lot of politicians are scumbags and will vote for a lobbyist’s position if their clients also donate to the pol’s campaign warchest.
It’s not a perfect system. In fact it’s the worst system… except for all the rest.”
8. Protected.
“Lobbying is a constitutionally protected activity. The first amendment of the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to petition elected officials to redress a grievance.
At its heart, that is what lobbying is. A group of citizens who share a common interest send someone who will represent their point-of-view to meet with politicians on their behalf.
While it can be done in a sleazy, underhanded way, the basic concept is well-intended.”
9. Democracy.
“Lobbying is when a constituent contacts their elected officials to try to convince them to vote a certain way or propose a certain bill. Everyone who wrote to their representatives to push for net neutrality was lobbying.
In many cases, groups will send someone to Washington DC to lobby in person because it’s more effective than writing letters or calling. It’s not just businesses that do this, but also nonprofits, unions, and interest groups. They all have the best interest of someone at heart, whether it’s gun owners or senior citizens or journalists.
Lobbyists are not allowed to give money directly to politicians, and they’re not allowed to promise future favors in exchange for voting a certain way.
They are allowed to donate to reelection campaigns, but only a limited amount, the same as anyone else. Money donated to the reelection campaign must be spent on election stuff, the candidate can’t just take the money for themselves.
The problem is that it’s hard to write rules for this that don’t have loopholes. They can limit campaign contributions, but stopping people from shouting how much they love a candidate in a public square would be a violation of Freedom of Speech. The supreme court has also ruled that buying TV commercials or newspaper advertisements is equivalent to shouting in the public square as far as free speech goes, so you can’t stop any private citizen from buying an ad to shout about how much they love a particular candidate.
And while the people lobbying can’t explicitly say they’ll do things if the candidate votes a certain way, it’s sort of obvious that if you don’t vote the way a group wants you to, they’ll back your opponent in the next election- that’s just how democracy works.”
10. Big money.
“The problem is that money is so intrinsically tied to politics. “Hey Mr. Politician, we’re friends, and I donated a few hundred grand to your re-election campaign last year; on a completely unrelated note, it would be really good for the continued success of my business if you vote no on those reforms next week….”
That’s not “technically” bribery as they’re not directly offering money in exchange for voting a certain way, but it’s pretty much the same thing in a more roundabout way. When your election campaign has costs running into the billions financed almost entirely by private individuals and businesses, the waters get very muddy very quickly.”
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