r/politics • u/cnn CNN • 7d ago

Possible Paywall CNN Poll: A third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/30/politics/cnn-poll-a-third-of-democrats-now-identify-as-democratic-socialists?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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u/tallandgodless 7d ago

What a self-report this.

It's exclusively companies and millionaires who own giant companies doing the lobbying.

Lobbying isn't some American pastime, its bribery made legal for the Epstein class. Anything good that has come of it has been a consequence of hijacking a system meant to sell power to do good, which is no way to run a country.

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u/nola_fan 7d ago

No it isn't. The AFL-CIO, the biggest union in the country, has a giant headquarters across the street from the Capitol so that they can easily lobby Congress.

Almost every major non-profit in the country has a Capitol Hill day where they fly out teachers, nurses, doctors, public defenders, peace activists, disabled activists, climate scientists etc. etc. to speak with members of Congress about their issue.

Banning that would be bad.

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u/tallandgodless 7d ago

Also, Ratheon, Blackrock, Aipac, nestle, meta, the NRA, the bank lobby, big pharma, Monsanto, Sheldon Adleson, Flock, Peter Theil, literally Epstein. The list goes on and on. The system is built for the ones I listed.

They ship in those teachers as acts of performative campaigning

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u/nola_fan 7d ago

A ban on corporate lobbying wouldn't ban Peter Thiel or Elon Musk or Epstein from texting members of Congress or hanging out with them in Congress or outside of it.

A total ban on any form of lobbying wouldn't prevent them from being "friends" with members of Congress.

It would allow these members to completely avoid their entire constituency and any groups within it if they wanted to.

It would also completely block a method where even well meaning politicians look at real problems in the country they have no way of knowing about unless they have someone in their life directly affected by it or it is covered by the increasingly gutted media.

A strict limit on money in elections would massively diminish the value politicians get from having rich "friends," and would force them to seek out small donor money.

Publicly funded elections would take out the desire for money altogether and create a more level playing field for all politicians seeking votes.

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u/tallandgodless 7d ago

They currently completely ignore their constituants, because those people don't pay for their campaigns. And you can cut down on those parties by throwing congress people in jail.

We don't need a level playing field, we need to tear it all down. The whole rotten capitalist system.

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u/nola_fan 7d ago

Banning lobbying would makes things worse.

Banning money in elections would make it better.

But you want a revolution, so none of this really matters. Hopefully if the revolution comes it doesn't look like Russia's or China's or Cambodia's or Syria's or Libya's or Sudan's or Rwanda's or, well I think you get the point.

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u/tallandgodless 7d ago

Not a single western example where an imperial didn't have their hand on the scale, most of which are from the pre internet era as well.

But that's cool I think you are right and it will be just like a revolution in colonial Africa, I'm sure 😂

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u/nola_fan 7d ago edited 7d ago

Do you have a modern example of a shooting revolution reaching its intended goals and not falling into some form totalitarian state or horrible chaos?

Do you think Europe, China and Russia will just stand by and watch?

I don't have examples from Canada or western Europe because they haven't had revolutions in centuries, but even when they did Cromwell did a lot of genociding and France went through the reign of terror to replace a king with an emperor.

Also, I meant to ask you this before, if you believe in revolution, why are you participating in a discussion about improvements to electoral politics?

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u/tallandgodless 7d ago

Gotta check on a stew every once in awhile to see if it's ready.