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Corruption is Legal in America

RepresentUs2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2015–2022
YouTube
explainer · general · 2015–2022 on HN

A short RepresentUs explainer arguing that US politics is shaped by money, citing the Gilens and Page Princeton study on how little average citizens influence policy.

Frequently linked as a compact summary of the Princeton study when commenters argue Congress ignores public opinion.

12 comments from Hacker News

@auslegung2021-02 · in “How prepared are we for the next giant solar flare?”

I think this video will encourage you. Well actually maybe it will discourage you, but the follow up video will encourage you :D Corruption is Legal in America: ▶ this video

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@rudimental2017-04 · in “Richard Posner: “The Real Corruption Is the Ownership of Congress by the Rich””

Today somebody on Reddit linked to this video which talks about the process of money influencing politics ▶ this video It doesn't discuss the role of the judicial system. It's all about the legislative aspects of US government. It's pretty compelling and well made. Hopefully a bipartisan movement can have some impact. The video was made by link

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@NaturalPhallacy2022-12 · in “SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities”

But would she have been if he didn't? You don't have to like him to acknowledge that the world's richest man with more followers than Joe Rogan has listeners (the most popular podcast period) has power. It's not inconceivable. When presidents do this they call it the "bully pulpit" because he uses his reach to the people to have them put pressure on their reps, which I wish we saw more of, because "Congress doesn't care what you think": ▶ this video

@ihumanable2022-06 · in “Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees”

Power and office are two different things. Someone can exercise a great deal of power in advancing or killing legislation while never holding office and allowing all the office holders to call them names on TV. What matters is what policies are enacted. Here's a nice video on the topic that summarizes a Princeton study ▶ this video

@cupcake-unicorn2021-12 · in “Be curious, not judgmental”

It's a tough issue, for sure, because the playing field is just so unequal. To even be able to approach these issues in a more equal way you'd probably have to start a lawsuit and go through a process of discovery because the corporation is bound by all these bizarre legal, financial, and political motives that don't apply when people are interacting with each other. This leads to corporations responding to such requests in a way that's inherently against the interests of the public answering these questions. Without a system in place that further aligns and incentivizes companies interests with their users the only way you can really approach this in a more equal manner is something like a lawsuit. Many times the problem is incredibly complex and while some people, even C level people may be all for providing this transparency it breaks down at scale and the company is at the end of the day beholden to its own interests and perpetuating itself. I recently saw this video on YouTube about some of the shadiness going on with Roblox: link The official answers they are giving is basically meaningless legalese and that's becoming more and more common. As I said before since Roblox isn't entering into this conversation in good faith the only way to force that conversation would be legal actions. Any kinds of laws further aligning the needs of clients/the general populace against the needs of big corporations/political elite have a really hard time passing because the system is se