When above I said, "Actual evidence of plutocracy is who is actually allowed to lobby/craft bills," I should have been more specific by adding "that are considered for passage." Yes, anyone can suggest legislation; only a handful of deep pocketed (and long-armed) donors seem to get any of their suggested legislation put to committee for consideration.
It's gotten so bad, in fact, that the average person is often not even listened to when they come to visit their congressperson unless a campaign contribution accompanies their visit in advance (source: NPR, interviewing a former lobbyist/House staffer). This has led to a congress that on average has become more connected with big money:
Two professors working separately at Princeton University, Larry Bartels and Martin Gilens, have been studying the correspondence between what politicians do and what their constituents of differing economic backgrounds say they want them to do in opinion polls. Are the opinions of wealthier Americans more likely to be heard and heeded than those of less affluent Americans?
The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is yes. But the scale of the disparity may shock those used to thinking that everyone's opinion counts. Bartels looked at how closely aligned with voters U.S. senators were on key votes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It turns out there is a pretty high degree of congruence between senators' positions and the opinions of their constituents—at least when those constituents are in the top third of the income distribution. For constituents in the middle third of the income distribution, the correspondence is much weaker, and for those in the bottom third, it is actually negative. (Yes, when the poorest people in a state support a policy, their senators are less likely to vote for it.)
(Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, Simon & Schuster, 2010, pp. 110-111, I underlined.)
So, again, while potentially, as you say, "anyone can petition their elected official," only some people actually get heard.
Plutocracy.
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Date: 31/10/13 19:12 (UTC)When above I said, "Actual evidence of plutocracy is who is actually allowed to lobby/craft bills," I should have been more specific by adding "that are considered for passage." Yes, anyone can suggest legislation; only a handful of deep pocketed (and long-armed) donors seem to get any of their suggested legislation put to committee for consideration.
It's gotten so bad, in fact, that the average person is often not even listened to when they come to visit their congressperson unless a campaign contribution accompanies their visit in advance (source: NPR, interviewing a former lobbyist/House staffer). This has led to a congress that on average has become more connected with big money:
So, again, while potentially, as you say, "anyone can petition their elected official," only some people actually get heard.
Plutocracy.