Why isn't lobbying illegal?

[hashuniverse]

why should it be ... its just a suggestion.

[1715258974]

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[1715258974]

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[mamichula]

It really is something disgusting and should be made illegal. It truly is disgusting.

[mamichula]

Lobbying:

This was good. I should save it just because.

[freedomno1]

That's pretty much what lobbying and civics is nice comic

[Chrithu]

As the OP I am from Germany. And from my perspective the true problem isn't the lobbying.

We have that too and it works quite similar: Lobbyists mostly are experts that try to convince politicians of their views in favor of certain groups. These groups are not just big companies but also ecology activist groups like the WWF or Green Peace for example or labor and trade unions. And lobbying actually is a necessary thing as politicians hardly have the time to listen to each and every single citizen they are responsible for. So it is good to form interest groups and send someone lobbying for the group to get your views and concerns forward to the politicians.

As some have stated in the US bribery/giving money as a lobbyist is strictly forbidden and watched over the same is true in Germany and here it always comes out and backfires badly for the politician and his party, actually in Germany doing something that is morally dubious (doesn't have to be even technically illegal) and being caught is one of the top 3 reasons that forces politicians to resign their positions and it happens quite fast after uncovering the deed in most cases. The most recent big case was our former president Christian Wulff. The pure suspicion that an entrepeneur friend of his family had covered expenses for some dinners and a vacation and had lend him the money for his house in trade for some favours was enough to force him to resign.

The big difference is - and that is where the true problem lies in the US in my view - that in the US anyone is allowed to directly support a particular candidate in a monetary way during election campaigns. And this GREATLY undermines the democratic system as it makes single politicians prone to bribery. In Germany donations can only be made to a party as a whole and the party is obliged to make the information about donations publicly available as part of the detailed report on their income, expenses and current assets which they have to deliver each year.

Additionally in Germany the expenses for election campaigns are for the most part covered by using federal money (so it's paid from the general tax income and not from the party's assets alone). Also the placing of campaign commercials is free in the public TV and Radio Stations. Same goes for the placing of placards.

I think for the US it'd be a huge leap ahead if donations directly to particular candidates would be forbidden and instead each candidate would get the same amount of money partly from the party's assets and partly from state/federal tax income in order to finance his/her campaign.

[show_off]

2) Does one need something like a "lobbying license" or something like that do lobby?

Maybe not

[sabreezie]

The laws are written by the people who get the money from those who don't want all this stuff works

[countryfree]

I am not an American citizen and I can hardly say that I understand all the fine details within the American politic system. Now, I grew up in Germany, and I'm not saying Germany is perfect; however to my knowledge bribery is not directly legal there.. however it seems that bribery is very deeply implemented in the American politic system.. am I getting that right?
A few questions in that direction:
1) What is the difference between lobbying and bribing?
2) Does one need something like a "lobbying license" or something like that do lobby?
3) The Money which lobbyists give to officials, is that documented somewhere or is it actually "under the table" without any official knowledge of it?
4) Why, even though everybody knows how lobbying affects American politics, does never anybody speak out against it? Why are there no major protests against lobbying?
In short: Why isn't lobbying illegal?

Because it's useful. We need lobbying because most politicians don't know anything about the subjects they're trying to regulate. We need lobbyists, unions, activists and all kind of pressure groups to tell them not to do this, or that, because it would hurt. That's democracy and justice. Many citizens, when they vote, are some kind of lobbyists, following the advices they heard on TV. The only system where there can't be any lobbying is anarchy