anyone else watch this... (in Debates)

documentary?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1339636/

I didn't see it, but our latest political scandal involves lobbying and the lack of transparency within our government, and links to the American Right; as well as hints of sexual scandal and various other intrigues.

I don't know if anywhere outside of the UK is actually interested in our scandals, but as it involves our former Defence Minister and involves the US, Israel and the Middle East it might have further echoes through the US.

Look up this fellow under Google News for the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Fox

there were many troubling issues brought up in the documentary but the most shocking to me was that some of the first drafts of legislation are actually written by lobbyists.

I am curious as to why that seemed shocking? I'll admit it takes me a little off guard, and seems a bit gross, but after some thought it doesn't really seem that odd. After all, anyone can write up a referendum and then try to get signatures for it. In a way, that is legislating, similar to knocking out a rough draft to present to a Congressperson, no? Where SHOULD ideas for legislators come from?

Anyone can "lobby" their congresspeople and/or senators. If I write a letter to my senator and ask for change, have I written a first draft?

Now, I'm not naive. I understand that a lot of lobbies/PACs are funded by larger interests, and in that case money talks (that's the gross part). But at the basic level of "voice", we all have the power to hammer out a draft of what laws we'd like to see enacted, don't we?

if you watch the documentary i think it addresses the difference between voices, it really comes down to how loud your voice is and in this current political setup money equals volume.

i really think you need to watch the documentary though to fully understand the synergy.

What we need is a publicly funded resource that can help create legislation for ideas and concepts for laws that people have. Charge some money for it, and bam, there you go.

Wouldn't that be interesting if you had two small organizations lobbying for change regarding copyright policy, and they both paid the Public Legislation Resource a $500 retainer to create the legislation they wanted. Obviously, writing legislation costs more then $500 depending on how complicated it is, but that's the point: Having a resource to help write policy that is independently funded, so more peoples interests can be represented.

What we have now is companies with millions of dollars paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to top lawyers to have them write legislation.

the documentary also shows some figures for how much is spent by these lobbying groups as well as the roi for a few specific pieces of legislation.

dude, the movie looks compelling, I'll keep my eyes open for it on streaming.

But I'm pretty keenly aware of how much money talks, and I agree that that is the bad part of the current system. Money goes a lot further than that, too. It's so ho-hum that nobody really cares. Ron Johnson (WI senator elected last year) spent around 9 million dollars on his campaign. His yearly "paycheck" from "his" company (quotes because he married into the company, and couldn't have been doing that much actual work whilst running for office)? Around 10 million in "deferred compensation". At least he'll have to pay income tax on that. Story here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/ron-johnson-wisconsin-senator_n_884049.html

So, watching yet another reminder of just how much money talks will probably only make me feel sick. Because remember: I'm the guy who hates all corporations, am myself unsuccessful, and am jealous of rich people rather than working to become wealthy myself. I'm just a lazy hater.

it is on netflix. ; )

For some reason lobbyists bring this to mind: