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Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

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Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#21

Post by stcroixx »

rqtwteye wrote: post #11

That’s pretty normal. My ex worked at congress and she said that most bills are reviewed and changed by lobbyists before they are submitted. And a lot of their changes get adopted almost verbatim. Same happens with regulations.

It was my impression lobbyists usually write the bills themselves. I don't know if this is how it's always done, but my company recently worked with lobbyists and a senators assistant and the lobbyists wrote a paragraph that, once approved by this assistant, went straight into the appropriations bill. Perfect example of pay to play.

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#22

Post by Aunche »

user3939382 wrote: post #7

I’ll remind everyone of the Princeton study that proved our democracy is a sham. Policy outcomes are almost exclusively the product of the preferences of economic elites, not of the People. If you do get a legislative outcome you wanted it’s a coincidence that some big power’s agenda accidentally aligned with your own.

Democracy is working as intended. Voters prioritize how well politicians virtue signal about wedge issues, then short-term economic stimulus (e.g. bragging about jobs created by unnecessary tax incentives), then meaningful policy, and only then, do they care about technical details of this meaningful policy. It's no surprise that they outsource the last part of lobbyists.

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#23

Post by paulette449 »

delecti wrote: post #14
lando2319 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is the governor's signed it with an understanding that the legislator would immediately water it down. Which is what happened

How can they make changes after he signed it though?

She [1]

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Hochul

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#24

Post by college_physics »

We can blame big tech (or economic elites more generally) for prioritising their financial gain (hence what they can claim from the rest of society) over e.g., ther sustainability and welfare of the very same society on which they lay these claims.

We can blame captured politicians for listening to powerful yet minority interests over the interests of the very people who appointed them to these roles.

We can blame citizens for making politics (literally) somebody else's business by either abstaining or re-electing people who are unfit for office. We can also blame (some of) them for eagerly contracting with said "big tech" and thus enabling it to have that oversized influence on society in the first place.

We can blame soft culture, formal educational systems and journalism for not educating, informing and enabling citizens to play the role that they need to play if the system is to function as it is supposed to.

There is plenty of blame to pass around. But there are also some people who cared enough to track and surface this [0],[1] and many other people in other walks of life that care enough to raise a voice, take a stance, or otherwise inconvenience themselves when facing similar malignancy elsewhere. Its a state of mind and it can be flipped.

[0] https://themarkup.org/news/2023/02/08/how-big-tech-rewrote-t...

[1] https://grist.org/technology/right-to-repair-new-york-hochul...

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#25

Post by user3939382 »

tasubotadas wrote: post #9
user3939382 wrote: post #7

I’ll remind everyone of the Princeton study that proved our democracy is a sham. Policy outcomes are almost exclusively the product of the preferences of economic elites, not of the People. If you do get a legislative outcome you wanted it’s a coincidence that some big power’s agenda accidentally aligned with your own.

Pls link

Here's the highlight https://i.imgur.com/NNpD9AR.jpg

https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/fi...

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#26

Post by ncallaway »

christkv wrote: post #13
user3939382 wrote: post #7

I’ll remind everyone of the Princeton study that proved our democracy is a sham. Policy outcomes are almost exclusively the product of the preferences of economic elites, not of the People. If you do get a legislative outcome you wanted it’s a coincidence that some big power’s agenda accidentally aligned with your own.

I'm more and more convinced that parliament or congress by lottery would be more representative and functional as well as the death of all political parties as they exist today.

I think a bicameral system with a House of Representatives (with a much larger body, with the number of constituents per representative fixed) and the a other body (we could even still call it the Senate for continuity and familiarity) being selected by sortition the way you describe would work well, and be a good transition step

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#27

Post by [deleted] »

user3939382 wrote: post #7

I’ll remind everyone of the Princeton study that proved our democracy is a sham. Policy outcomes are almost exclusively the product of the preferences of economic elites, not of the People. If you do get a legislative outcome you wanted it’s a coincidence that some big power’s agenda accidentally aligned with your own.

[deleted]

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#28

Post by QuillPen »

delecti wrote: post #14
lando2319 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is the governor's signed it with an understanding that the legislator would immediately water it down. Which is what happened

How can they make changes after he signed it though?

By passing a new law, termed a "chapter amendment". These are agreed upon by the governor and the legislature in advance of the governor's signature and passed and signed rapidly thereafter.

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#29

Post by comte7092 »

user3939382 wrote: post #7

I’ll remind everyone of the Princeton study that proved our democracy is a sham. Policy outcomes are almost exclusively the product of the preferences of economic elites, not of the People. If you do get a legislative outcome you wanted it’s a coincidence that some big power’s agenda accidentally aligned with your own.

The Princeton study actually showed that when it comes to advancing policies, it was pretty much a wash.

Their difference came in when looking at getting policies blocked. If a policy was unpopular with economic elites, they were effective at getting it shut down.

It’s an important distinction, because there’s a clear way to see what causes this behavior. There are a myriad of ways that our systems make it easy to block things rather than get things done. And if people realized that, there’s a pretty clear path for reform.

Re: Big Tech lobbyist language made it verbatim into NY’s hedged repair bill

#30

Post by qikInNdOutReply »

college_physics wrote: post #24

We can blame big tech (or economic elites more generally) for prioritising their financial gain (hence what they can claim from the rest of society) over e.g., ther sustainability and welfare of the very same society on which they lay these claims. We can blame captured politicians for listening to powerful yet minority interests over the interests of the very people who appointed them to these roles. We can blame ci…

We can blame HN for providing social engineering tools to make this status permanent, even in a society in decline?
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