Comments on: If there were lobbyists in the 18th century, would there be a provision in the US Constitution … https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/12/22/if-there-were-lobbyists-in-the-18th-century-would-there-be-a-provision-in-the-us-constitution/ Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:53:11 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Uncle Glenny https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/12/22/if-there-were-lobbyists-in-the-18th-century-would-there-be-a-provision-in-the-us-constitution/#comment-18896 Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:53:11 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=1748#comment-18896 OT but tangential point not often mentioned: cutting all that government spending (at all levels) by cutting the workforce and/or union busting has a similar effect. Ditto the military. I would venture a guess that paying the personnel but cutting back on all those super-expensive armaments and overpriced contractors would have the effect of feeding more money back into the economy.

]]> By: Russell https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/12/22/if-there-were-lobbyists-in-the-18th-century-would-there-be-a-provision-in-the-us-constitution/#comment-18895 Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:47:01 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=1748#comment-18895 I would love to see a federal law that bans campaign contributions to federal office. Texas has a law that does that for state offices. I doubt it is the only state to do so.

That said, I don’t fool myself into thinking it would cure corporate influence. Much of which works through the media. And therein lies the rub. The one thing worse than business control of major media is government control of it. That’s why the 1st amendment guarantees a free press. I’ve heard a lot of proposals about how to dampen the influence of corporate dollars, while preserving press freedom. I’ve yet to see one that squarely faces the problem of how to define where corporate speech that they want to control ends, and where the press begins.

But corporate campaign contributions are easy. Ban them.

]]> By: Hatchetfish https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/12/22/if-there-were-lobbyists-in-the-18th-century-would-there-be-a-provision-in-the-us-constitution/#comment-18894 Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:17:34 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=1748#comment-18894 Hmm. Good point, I’d never thought about it, but I suppose baking would be difficult while living on the streets.

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