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Comment by nr2x | Hacker News Reader

Because public polling regularly shows legislators do what donors want, not voters.

And yet we vote them back into office. What is the solution to this problem?

The solution has been obvious for a long time – politicians must campaign with a fixed budget and no outside special interest financing.

That requires Restrictions on free speech, which would be difficult to do (1A).

New Zealand has political campaign budgets, and limits on airtime. However restricting private citizens is difficult.

There was a significant controversy in the 2005 New Zealand elections regarding budgets. It is alleged US fundamentalists significantly (for NZ lol) funded the Exclusive Brethren Church to produce pamphlets in support of the National Party, by smearing both the Labour Party and the Green Party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_Zealand_election_fund...

Donate more. Be the biggest donor and you will be able to buy the most votes.

Yes, you’ve correctly identified the problem.

Pollings actually shows legislators are exactly in lockstep with voters. For instance, a strong majority of Americans say they would not pay an additional $10 per month in electricity to combat climate change. So legislators faithfully do nothing to combat climate change that would cost voters in any way. You may not like it, and neither do I, but the problem is with the voters rather than the politicians

to be fair a public poll is not exactly representative of the subset of the population that consistently votes.

Where is that research? How could polling show that they do what donors want? Do they poll donors?

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