

Ask HN: Why don't we hire lobbyist to fight SOPA/PIPA? - ryanjmo

Hi HN,<p>I'm willing to chip in a few bucks to buy lobbyist to fight SOPA/PIPA.  Why wasn't raising money a huge part of the protests today?  I actually haven't heard anything about anyone donating to buy anti SOPA/PIPA lobbyist.  Surely this is something the web can organize.<p>Thanks for any feedback or help in understanding why this isn't happening or at least happening more visibly.
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JoeCortopassi
Crowdsourcing the funds needed to influence a bunch of democratically elected
officials so they will decide on policy that the consensus agrees with.

There is something seriously wrong, when we need a majority to band together
and pay off a group that's whole purpose is to represent us.

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dmor
I'm wondering, could we disrupt this entire lobbying "industry" with the
Internet?

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polyfractal
Unqualified answer, but probably not.

Lobbying works because politicians need money for campaigns (and/or private
jets, depending on how cynical you are). Companies have a lot of money, and
lobbying a bill that is beneficial to your company can save orders of
magnitude of money. The internet at large does not really have the sums of
money needed to compete. Arguably, it doesn't have the attention span either.

And to be entirely fair, not all lobbying is entirely corrupt. Some lobbying
is just putting money into the hands of politicians whose views coincide with
the best interest of your company. You want your company to succeed,
Politician XYZ generally supports ideas that are beneficial to your company,
so you support that candidate financially so he stays in office.

Of course, there is obviously a lot of corrupt lobbying going on too.

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kls
_You want your company to succeed, Politician XYZ generally supports ideas
that are beneficial to your company, so you support that candidate financially
so he stays in office._

I think that qualifies as corruption, it is promoting a specific agenda that
is beneficial to you over others and using insider influence to do so. It is
just pre-issue as opposed to post-issue. It's kind of like the Mob paying off
the cops just in case they need them. They are still in the pocket of the
influence.

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polyfractal
It's a grey area.

Is it corruption to vote for politicians that support your beliefs, such as
gay rights? Is it corruption to donate money to those campaigns to help their
chance of being elected?

I'm not writing a blank check for all lobbying. It is a clearly broken
industry with absolutely enormous power, far greater than it really should
have. But it is also a fundamentally _democratic_ principle.

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lsemel
We should be making a platform to crowdsource the hiring of lobbyists.

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ff0066mote
Instead of making a platform which would further solidify the role of
lobbyists in American politics, why don't we make a platform which puts a
spotlight on the shady dealings of Washington?

A tool which aggregated all legislation moving through both the House and the
Senate along with the supporters and opponents of each would benefit the
public's ability to keep an eye on what Congress does.

Done right, giving such visibility to the Democratic process could go a long
way toward fixing it.

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polyfractal
<http://www.opencongress.org/bill/all>

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pasbesoin
Lobbyists look for the gravy train. Not for a one-off, unstably funded
contract job.

Well, there are lobbyists who will take such work, but you're getting second
tier work at best. Unless they believe in you, personally.

I've been peripherally involved in such a relationship at the state level, and
it worked out. Even then, though, there was a stable group of professionals
who were organized and whose organization was able to contract with the
lobbyist over a period of years.

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ryanjmo
Cool, thanks, this makes sense.

