Congress Members Who Took RIAA Cash 287
palewook writes "The Consumerist posted a story containing the contact information of 50 United States Representatives & Senators who accepted RIAA money during their last election campaign. Seems like a good time to let a few people know how you feel about RIAA shills."
Benefits vs. Costs (Score:3, Interesting)
$2500 is the average (Score:4, Interesting)
Cheap sellout bastards indeed!
For a few dollars more.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Now its like $1000-9000. I mean I could buy a Congressman for that amount of money. If Slashdotters just collaborate then for $50 a head we could get Congress to ban Microsoft...
Either the RIAA is stingy or Congressmen are desperate for extra cash.
HILLARY "OFFSHORE" CLINTOON TOOK RIAA MONEY (Score:2, Interesting)
Its not the lobbying (advocacy), its the money (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem is that the lobbyists can "bundle" donations in order to give fat checks to lawmakers. Bundling is a technique of pooling money from several donors to get around limits on individual donors.
Only one form of campaign finance reform will ever really work. All others will ALWAYS fail. The one that will work is to enact the following - Allow only registered voters who are eligible to vote for a candidate/issue may donate to that candidate/issue. Only registered voters in a district have any business influencing elections in that district. People from California, New York, or anywhere else have *NO* legitimate reason to donate to a candidate or referendum issue in Nebraska, but I would be willing to bet Nebraska Senators and Congressmen raise most of their cash from out-of-state interests. So there is the problem, and I've given the solution.
Of course nobody who is vested in the current system will ever go along with that proposal. It doesn't matter whether its the politicians or business groups, labor unions, or 'advocacy' groups like on both the left or right like the ACLU, AARP, or NRA. They all believe they have an interest in the current system.
"Do you now, (Score:4, Interesting)
Is there some inalienable right to free music? If you think the market is overpriced, go hear a local band or pick up your own noisemaker and have some fun with it. Maybe if the RIAA executives hear a bunch of Slashdotters' singing they'll come down on their prices.
In a country whose long-term drift toward fascism has accelerated into a rush, there are far more important issues that we should be raising hell about.
Re:For a few dollars more.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Either the RIAA is stingy or Congressmen are desperate for extra cash.
Might I posit "both"?
Now its like $1000-9000. I mean I could buy a Congressman for that amount of money. If Slashdotters just collaborate then for $50 a head we could get Congress to ban Microsoft...
Really, considering the amount of influence donations/lobbyists have, why don't more people organize around the issues that are important to them, raise money, and buy their own congressmen? At this point, we really should.
Funny you say that.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, where there's a will, there's a way.....
The NRA, for instance, gets around this by getting almost every single one of it's memebers to donate money to candidates in trouble. These donations quickly add up, and are quite influential to candidates. I suspect that this is likely what will happen soon with RIAA. They'll get artists and labels that are mad to donate to candidates.
I just hope that that day will never come....
Perhaps you're unfamiliar with Congress (Score:4, Interesting)
Since all 535 of these men and women will have a substantial influence on my life, why again shouldn't I be able to influence the elections of all 535? Taking it a step further, why shouldn't I be able to support groups which are interested eliciting the same reaction I'm interested in for any or all of the 535 legislators?
The NASCAR solution? (Score:1, Interesting)
Well, we can't deny the corporate lobbyists freedom of speech (the Supreme Court said so). But could we make them admit it? How about making every politician wear every logo of every lobbyist they accept money from? Campaign managers can stand behind them, changing the corporate ball caps every few seconds so that every sponsor gets their exposure. The bigger the bribe, the bigger the brand. That way we'll know who owns them, and have a general idea of the price tag.
Likewise, every speech and sound bite should include the name of every "sponsor" who helped to bankroll it. "If you elect me, the RIAA - MPAA - UAW - NRA - NEA - SPCA - GM - Disney - Mobil Oil - Wal Mart - PG&E - Microsoft - Sony - McDonald's - Budweiser administration promises to..." If we're lucky, the sound bite will end before they get to the start of their campaign lies.
It's not my original idea, but I like it!
What can 'the people do'? (Score:1, Interesting)
Writing a corrupt politician isint going to change things. And if all of the candidates for president are all corrupt, and 'we the people' cannot elect a the president (the electoral college does, the popular vote does'nt mean shit) the how the fuck can we ever change anything? If big business runs the country at their intrest and not the citizens how can we stop that?
Frankly It is going to take a new revolution. To bad so many good people died to fight for that dream that was America. Amazing. They died overseas to secure our country that will never be invaded by anybody. (yes people we have the capacity to never get invaded, you do not know 5% of what the military tells you) The only way it will change is if millions of us (yes im talking 50 million people) stand up to the government at Washington DC. Threaten taking over the White House if we must. I honestly do not think any country should have a president. Everything should be decided 'by the people' on a weekly voting basis. For those of you who say thats not feasable, to much money etc, look at iraq, and take
Re:You're joking, right? (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, there's an alternate theory, where politicians already would vote that way, and the RIAA wants to give their campaigns money so that they'll stay in office and be able to continue to help them. It's not exactly great, but it's not nearly as sleazy as the bribery that otherwise would be going on.
That's it? (Score:2, Interesting)
Only 50? (Score:3, Interesting)
Did this list really backtrack all of RIAA's members and their proxies? The recorded music industry [opensecrets.org] gave $3.1 million in the last presidential election cycle (2004) and $2.4 million in the off year (2006). Not every company in the recorded music industry is RIAA, but these recipients got a lot more money [opensecrets.org] overall than TFA reports.
Re:HILLARY "OFFSHORE" CLINTOON TOOK RIAA MONEY (Score:2, Interesting)
Hillary is whatever gets her elected. I'm more Democrat than Republican, and she makes me want to puke.
Re:Really hard to make a good case for lobbying. (Score:3, Interesting)
Lobbyin is the weakest part of US democracy. I am really not a US basher (a colleague says I am a disguised CIA operative), but I don't understand what place lobbying has in a democracy. I don't care how transparent it is, it's still a bribe.
Curiously enough, lobbying is one of the three constitutionally protected professions in the United States. The First Amendment ensures that all citizens have the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".
For those who are interested, the other two protected professions are ministers/priests (the right to freedom of religion), and lawyers (the right to counsel).
Re:Really hard to make a good case for lobbying. (Score:2, Interesting)
He received $2,000. I think it's highly likely that he never even realized the RIAA donated, as I find it improbable that someone who's raised millions and millions of dollars actually goes through who gave each donation.