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Comment by dijit | Hacker News Reader

I'm not American, lobbying is corruption and that it's fully legal is one of the scariest things when looking towards America.

BTW: I'm a big fan of your work. :)

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> lobbying is corruption and that it's fully legal is one of the scariest things when looking towards America.

Wow, I guess I need to move to Sweden. That sounds extremely nice. And in that context, I _absolutely_ agree with your statement that corporations shouldn't try to shift the political conversation.

> BTW: I'm a big fan of your work. :)

Aww, thanks!

Is taking out an ad for an unrelated candidate legal? Can a person or a business do it simply because they like the candidate's policies?

Where is lobbying illegal?

Well, campaign donations are fully illegal in the UK election process... not that our politics is better.

Sweden has not yet decided what to make illegal, but lobbyists are avoiding doing anything that violates rule 0: http://www.aalep.eu/lobbying-landscape-sweden

Rule 0 is "Don't act in a way that makes me create more rules", in most old online communities.

>> Rule 0 is "Don't act in a way that makes me create more rules"

I love that!

This is a little complicated to answer. "Lobbying" as a word without cultural context just refers to presenting issues to representatives, which is critically important in democracy. In the US it comes alongside "Buying time" via gifts and hosting and political donations which would be considered bribery and corruption anywhere else with a functional democracy.

Basically, where it is illegal, they don't call it lobbying.

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