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Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
No, not at all. Its a very clear point. The party is a disaster. An analogy to the Catholic Church is apt. The only reason its even viable is that the Dems are almost as bad, not so much from corruption (give them time once they're in power), but because they're beholden to a whole different crop of special interests.
Lobbying should be illegal. It's just that simple. It distorts what should be an intellectual debate. And there should be term limits across the board. If we continue to allow corporations to use DC as a feeding trough, we stifle innovation and subsidize dying industries. I'm being too general here, but you know what I mean. The current "privatization" looks a lot more like subsidization. I think over time this hurts both govt and corporations and is a huge factor in the wealth disparity issue.
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Pelosi put a whole bunch of restrictions on lobbying and other anti-corruption stuff on her agenda for the first 100 hours, but most of it died in the Senate. Most but not all dems backed it, very few republicans crossed party lines to support it.
The first step here is the Rs admitting they have a problem. The second step is to do something about it. There's a narrow window before the Dems get too comfy where it's possible, but it will take a few Rs crossing the aisle. And at this point, the Republicans ought to back limits on lobbyist generosity out of self-interest now, anyways, since most of the payola will be heading to Democratic coffers in the next few years.
