Politicians get the lion's share of that money from people expecting an ROI.
Our political system literally has a mandatory bribe quota.
> but in the case of company X the lobbying ROI is a net positive for everyone, so the system can't be all bad
Please list the top 10 donors (heck, I'll be generous: any 10 consecutive donors) to any seat-holding political party of your choice, along with your opinion of whether or not the policy they're after is net-beneficial to society (+), zero sum (0), or a net loss to society (-). Alternatively, pick the +/0/- labels according to your unapologetic self-interest, since it's reasonable to vote on that basis rather than trying to work out the whole "net benefit to society" thing.
Let's focus on what lobbying IS instead of hoping (for example) that google will displace comcast from the gravy train.