From gfoster@entersection.org Fri Jul 6 02:39:12 2018 From: Gregory Foster To: cypherpunks-legacy@lists.cpunks.org Subject: [drone-list] OT: Re: Corporate interests vs. state & local policies Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2018 02:39:12 +0000 Message-ID: <172289282635.3881296.17915082398356924175.generated@mail.pglaf.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============2840352050368073464==" --===============2840352050368073464== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable My reply is off-topic, yhbw. On 3/21/13 1:02 AM, Al Mac Wow wrote: > [CREW] have done FOIA against practically every government agency =20 > imaginable, to find out to what degree Corporate Citizens are running =20 > the show. They have found that Lobbyists are involved in micro =20 > managing every branch of government b=13 legislative, judicial, =20 > administrative b=13 every department b=13 every agency b=13 at federal, sta= te, =20 > and local levels. As a private citizen that is actively involved in crafting legislation and=20 lobbying elected officials, I resemble that remark. Generalizations are=20 sometimes useful, but they always obscure the truth. And the truth is we=20 need more citizen lobbying and less promotion of the belief that lobbying=20 is a bad thing. After becoming actively involved in state politics, it's clear to me why =20 lobbyists are able to exert influence that /prima facie/ seems =20 problematic: without the assistance of lobbyists (corporate and citizen) =20 there would be no way for our elected officials and their staffs to do the=20 work that is expected of them. For example, during the current session in Texas there have been 5,723 =20 bills filed in the House and Senate. The Representatives and Senators =20 have five months to work through that load, which typically results in =20 about 1,400 bills passed. Each Legislator has no more than ten fulltime =20 staffers, often college interns, each with multiple far-flung areas of =20 responsibility - not expertise. Legislators are expected to know all about=20 the bills they have filed, the bills that pass through their committee=20 assignments, and those that they finally vote on. Yet we feel justified=20 ridiculing them if they do not, or if they follow guidance from their=20 affiliated party. Lobbyists have influence because Legislators need all the help they can =20 get. They appreciate it. And that is how that game is played. That means that you and I, should we choose, can play that game too. I =20 encourage everyone on this list to try it out. gf --=20 Gregory Foster || gfoster(a)entersection.org @gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/ -- Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailin= g moderator at companys(a)stanford.edu or changing your settings at https://m= ailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/drone-list ----- End forwarded message ----- --=20 Eugen* Leitl leitl http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE --===============2840352050368073464==--