Slashdot Mirror
Tech Companies and Politicians: Who Pays Who?
fiorenza writes "An investigation into political contributions by technology companies shows that Republicans are the top beneficiaries of such donations, but the Dems aren't too far behind. Perhaps most interesting, it appears that tech companies know that to really get what they want, they need to lobby directly. From the article: 'It's not just Microsoft that is spending these massive amounts. The computer/Internet industry as a whole dropped $84 million on lobbying in 2005 — more even than the TV/movies/music groups. Although the firms at the end of the Internet 'pipes' are spending money, it's dwarfed by the expenditures of those firms that own the 'pipes' themselves.'"
Democrats were favored to win the House in that cycle, and most likely to take the Senate, too - reversal of complete control of the government, which in fact did happen. Even so, Republicans still pulled in much more, two to one. That ration is most certainly "far behind".
Democrats need to spend more of their bribes on better PR, even if just so Slashdot doesn't repeat the same "Democrats are just as bad" BS as does the corporate mass media whenever Republicans are much worse.
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make install -not war
1: Every politician's number 1 goal is getting reelected
2: The US political system will remain corrupt as long as the politicians are permitted to take these bribes.
3: The people in power do not want the system fixed because it would reduce their chances at reelection.
4: The system can only be fixed by the people who are in power, since they make the laws.
Campaign contributions should be limited to the 12 months before a primary and only from registered voters from a candidate's district.
Does anybody know or willing to tell? Without a Grand Jury investegation we may never know the answer. I personally cannot think of a legit or legal reason why they would.