It's comforting to believe that actual voters have that kind of political influence over these things, but really it's about a million little talls, primarily driven by lobbyists commanded by big companies
replyYou are about 20 years out of date. Modern politicians get almost all of their funding from small donations, in other words, from passionate partisans who care about culture war issues.
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replyI find that difficult to believe, having been involved in political campaigning (not in EU or USA).
replyHave you evidence?
Sure. Here is us politician finances from 2024. Note that the vast majority is from individual contributors.
replyOnly 6-8% of us political funding in 2024 came from business-PAC contributions.
https://www.fec.gov/resources/campaign-finance-statistics/20...
Further splits here: https://www.fec.gov/resources/campaign-finance-statistics/20...
There are exceptions to this of course but most politicians answer to voters much much much more than big business.
People still in bubbles in the big 2026
replyHow is that comforting? The phenomenon is entirely negative.
replyBecause if it's just a few evil people making the world bad then that's fixable. The truth that it is it's an extraordinarily complex stew of incentives means its harder to fix.
replySure, cynically, you can use the argument that we can’t just limit the influence of megacorps because the problem is more complex than that. Sure, but limiting them will still help.
replyWhy not do the obvious thing that can still help? There are some simple things we as a people or a conglomeration of peoples can do to curb the enthusiasm for state level corruption. It is doable. It will not solve everything - but surely we can still do it.
> Because if it's just a few evil people making the world bad then that's fixable
replyThe conclusion does not necessarily follow the premises