> But it's the job of an elected official to make that determination only after they have considered their options in a proportional-to-population way.
I don't know what this means, and there's no way to operationalize this where "do what's right only if the right lobby represents enough members" is better than simply "do what's right".
What you're advocating is going to do the exact opposite of what you're hoping for. It will increase the power of the rich and special interests.
It's common for a large special-interest lobby to face no comparably organized opposition, even when its preferred policies harm a much larger number of people. Look at the National Association of Realtors or the National Automobile Dealers Association. These are large, well-organized lobbies that promote their own special interests and harm the rest of us. There is no anti-realtor lobby.
Right now, anyone can write to or call up their representative and argue their position. That's lobbying. You don't need to get X signatures or form an organization with at least X members for the right to be heard by your representative. Putting up barriers like that isn't going to hurt the lobbies. It's going to restrict the opposing voices.
(To be clear, I'm not saying there would be an explicit threshold where a lobby needs a certain number of members. But no matter how you implement this proposal, if it has any effect, then there is some implicit threshold where that number of supporters pushes the lobby over the edge so their position is considered.)
All the money in politics - the campaign donations and the Super PACs - exist to try to get votes. Campaigning costs money. If you start requiring a threshold of votes, signatures, or members before a political position can be considered, you are handing more power to the rich and powerful. The well-funded NAR would get their policies by default unless we could organize a bigger lobby with more than their 1.5 million members.
Requiring votes, signatures, or members won't solve this. People cannot stay informed on every little issue and every special interest group. These groups are well funded, and they will campaign for their positions. Often their arguments sound convincing. Often they're misleading or dishonest. And they win. This isn't hypothetical. It happens all the time.
I don't know what this means, and there's no way to operationalize this where "do what's right only if the right lobby represents enough members" is better than simply "do what's right".
What you're advocating is going to do the exact opposite of what you're hoping for. It will increase the power of the rich and special interests.
It's common for a large special-interest lobby to face no comparably organized opposition, even when its preferred policies harm a much larger number of people. Look at the National Association of Realtors or the National Automobile Dealers Association. These are large, well-organized lobbies that promote their own special interests and harm the rest of us. There is no anti-realtor lobby.
Right now, anyone can write to or call up their representative and argue their position. That's lobbying. You don't need to get X signatures or form an organization with at least X members for the right to be heard by your representative. Putting up barriers like that isn't going to hurt the lobbies. It's going to restrict the opposing voices.
(To be clear, I'm not saying there would be an explicit threshold where a lobby needs a certain number of members. But no matter how you implement this proposal, if it has any effect, then there is some implicit threshold where that number of supporters pushes the lobby over the edge so their position is considered.)
All the money in politics - the campaign donations and the Super PACs - exist to try to get votes. Campaigning costs money. If you start requiring a threshold of votes, signatures, or members before a political position can be considered, you are handing more power to the rich and powerful. The well-funded NAR would get their policies by default unless we could organize a bigger lobby with more than their 1.5 million members.
Requiring votes, signatures, or members won't solve this. People cannot stay informed on every little issue and every special interest group. These groups are well funded, and they will campaign for their positions. Often their arguments sound convincing. Often they're misleading or dishonest. And they win. This isn't hypothetical. It happens all the time.