wistahpatsfan

It's not just a domestic problem...it's global:

Indian Business Plans to Use Expatriates as Nuclear Lobbyists

"...A lobbying group with ties to the Confederation of Indian Industry plans to send as many as 100,000 e-mails next week to people of Indian origin living in countries ranging from Norway to New Zealand, according to a statement. The e-mail will urge recipients to tout the accord to politicians, newspapers and influential groups in their adopted homelands.

By lobbying in their home countries, ``people of Indian origin can make a landmark contribution to India's energy security,'' the lobbying initiative, called the Nuclear Suppliers Group Campaign for India, said on its Web site. Energy-starved India would gain access to American nuclear power plant technology and fuel under the U.S.-India accord.

The effort is aimed at swaying countries that belong to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 45-nation forum dedicated to limiting the spread of atomic weapons. The NSG would have to loosen its export controls to approve the accord, a step that requires the agreement of all members, including holdouts such as China, Austria, Sweden and Ireland."

Indian Business Plans to Use Expatriates as Nuclear Lobbyists - Bloomberg.com

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PatsFanInVa

Well now, there is after all a solution to this.

You decouple speech from fundraising.

The usual cry goes up that funding causes, issue ads, etc etc etc, is "freedom of speech."

Get the money out of campaigning. Make television do what they once thought it was supposed to do: donate air time for public service. If you want to win a primary, go door to door and convince people ("oh no we don't want your money. We're volunteers too. We just want your vote.") If you want to win a general election, well, your local and national news should have to donate an hour of air time a week to any candidate who wins a place on the ballot.

See, I can come up with unworkable and ideologically pure solutions too

But at least this gets at the actual problem, the money-for-influence virus. If they don't need campaign funds, you cut the problem down to the petty crooks who just want their houses built cheap or whatever. You can get at those through plain old fraud prosecutions. The main issue isn't people breaking the law, it's people not having to break the law. There oughtta be one.

But to make one that works, we have to admit to ourselves that free speech does not mean money talks.

PFnV

Kdo5

Were we ever really a democracy?

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-Art Shell
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