Turquoise
O Canada
+1,596|6847|North Carolina
By now, most of the international posters here have probably at least become aware of the kind of power that special interests and corporations have over the American government.  Lobbyism is the greatest weakness of our system, and it looks like campaign finance reform is a pipe dream.

My questions to all of you are:

1) How much of an influence do corporations and special interests have over your government?

2) If your government is relatively less affected by these groups, how did your system manage to keep them in check -- in order to preserve the rights of the common citizen?
Bertster7
Confused Pothead
+1,101|7023|SE London

The level of influence of lobbyists on US policy is quite concerning. It does seem to be the government doing what the richest lobbyists want, rather than what the people want. Of course there is always a gulf between what the people want and what the government does, but in the US the direction of policy does seem dictated by who has the most money.

In the UK donations to political parties are quite tightly regulated and when the system is abused we tend to get a lot of scandals about it, cash for honours being a prime example (but ultimately I'd rather the government gave away worthless titles for donations than altered their policy).

Although lobbying here is becoming more prevalent. Which is a bad thing, it has not reached the monumental levels suffered by the US. Luckily there is quite tight regulation by the APPC.

Last edited by Bertster7 (2007-07-28 09:51:00)

Turquoise
O Canada
+1,596|6847|North Carolina
It sounds like we need similar regulations....   Of course, you can imagine what kind of resistance these lobbyists will put up against said regulation.
jonsimon
Member
+224|6937
Lobbyists in my country control 100% of the government.

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