Power And Dollar

CNN is talking about lobbyists’ money.  Lobbying is inherent to the business of politics.  The very action of voting is a form of lobbying.  The threat should be more focused on if one is lobbying for the interests of some minority group.  If Americans want to prevent lobbying for the interests of some minority groups, than it is no different from the British parliament system where minority lives in the shadow of majority.  That would be markedly different from the American constitution where the judicial branch checks against the Congress, i.e. the tyranny of majority.  The threat media reports focuses on lobbying by money.  This is not unique to presidential politics.  This happens in every state, county and municipal just as well.  Politics happens when there are two or more parties who exchange interests.  The relevant question is how to manage lobbying. 

The convincing lobbying is to lobby politicians by votes.  The back door to this is to lobby by money.  That is why there are laws around election financing. 

A lot of countries manage lobbying with campaign financing laws.  America is no exception.  The law manages this problem by limiting donation amount per individual.  Ever since Clinton’s administration, it changed to donation limit by citizen.  However, more can be done:

Currently, any political action committee can accept donation.  That can change to only political parties and declared campaigns.  

Furthermore, can charity donate? Incorporated?  Labor union?

What about the campaign surplus?

What about donation in kind?  

What about expenses?  Can a vendor charge an amount lower than the fair market value?  Is that in kind donation?

What about money lent to campaigns?

What about third party campaigns during election times?  Say WWF or NRA running ads during election times without any references to candidates?

What is the definition of a volunteer?  Some people may have very strong interests in being a volunteer full time.

Media’s focus should direct the fire to the debate of campaign financing since Obama will not take this issue up to debate.