(Example is based on US politics, but could apply to any equally corrupt government) In this day and age, it’s clear that rampant corruption is abound with mega corporations buying up politicians with relative pennies they found under their couches.

When words and calls to action fail. Why are there no crowdfunded grassroots movements that actively try to play the same bribery game. If anything, to finally shine a light on how broken the system is.

If the dollar has a voice, why not let the people’s dollars speak?

Of course, this is clearly a terrible idea long term for any system to work like this, plus a bit of a race to the bottom.

The question is more along the line of: Has anyone actually tried this? If so, why/why not?

Be civil please.

  • hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 days ago

    I think the main reason is that your average working class person, even if they have the money to contribute to that, doesn’t have the time and energy to get involved in politics. Looking at history, most people seem to be happy as long as they have food on the table, a roof over their heads, and some pretty basic rights, and only start to act when something big goes wrong, usually famines, but also things like plagues and cases of injustice that a lot of people hear & care about.

    The reasons I think this doesn’t happen:

    • most people don’t have enough interest, time, energy
    • a lot of people don’t have enough money to contribute
    • this would require lots of organization and connecting to others who agree with the idea
    • it’d probably be easy to get caught, and a lot of the time (especially in countries where corruption is widespread) poor people will get punished harsher than the ruling class.
    • even if you somehow were able to do this despite the points above, it still probably wouldn’t be enough; the gap between the average and a billionare is incomprehensibly huge. Less than ten people have more wealth than half of the world’s population.
  • Fleur_@aussie.zone
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    2 days ago

    Poor people don’t have disposable income. Especially not the throw at a politician and hope kinda income.

  • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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    3 days ago

    There are a lot of large PAC’s that effectively do this, pulling together a sizeable voting block and donation base. AARP, an organization for retired people, is one of the larger ones. It just happens that it is hard to a large group of people to agree on policy.

  • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    Here’s a better use for all that money.

    Start a non-profit organisation that harasses and annoys the hell out of people who take bribes. Stuff like putting laxatives in their coffee, banana peels on their path, water buckets on door, and so on. You get the idea. Also, they should video those pranks and post them online. Name and shame anyone who takes bribes.

  • Da Oeuf@slrpnk.net
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    3 days ago

    In a way that is what trade unions do. Here in the UK they donate to the Labour party, for some reason.

  • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    The top ~5-6 people l wealthy people own more than the bottom 51% on the planet combined. Let alone a single country.

    But there is something like WolfPAC

  • blarghly@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago
    1. You can already do this. There are tons of nonprofits that lobby the government for x, y, and z.
    2. But these non-profits don’t tend to engage in much explicit bribery, because the people working at these organizations and who donate to these organizations think outright bribery is wrong.
    3. Finally, if you started a gofundme to bribe a politician, they would 1,000,000% not take your money. When you bribe someone, discretion is part of the deal, and with a public gofundme, you’ve already broken that discretion.
    • glimse@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago
      1. You’d be a total moron to donate to some random person who claims they’ll use the money to bribe politicians
  • llooll@feddit.online
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    3 days ago

    I always thought a “buy a lobbyist” would be a good crowd funded service. lets build it, I can offer up designs.

  • In a corrupt developing country, anyone can bribe officials for things, especially if its small and within that officials purview, in a dysfunctional semi-corrupt developed capitalist democracy, only the rich 1% can.

    Example: One Child Policy was officially policy in China, but you pay their “fines”/bribes/extortion (or whatever you wanna call it) and voila, problems go away. Ask how I know… I am the second son in my family lol, and no, we aren’t a rich family, it was like from savings over a period time or something, or maybe my parents borrowed from relatives, idk the details… like… people just bribe for a lot of small everyday stuff, I heard about even getting jobs or getting into university, and people talk so casually about it. There’s a term for it “走后门” (2nd definition: to pull strings; to call in favours; to use the influence of someone in authority to achieve one’s goal), usually someone you know (关系 Guanxi), and you give them money, like probably in the form of a 红包 (Red Envelope, you know, the new year thing).

    In America? Nah, there’s law and order… or something… you can’t just bribe for stuff…

    Its a “gift” lol, not bribe. Thomas Clarance has declared so. Just ask him about it while he’s on vacation on the yacht of some random 1%er.

    Wait, you wanna do the same? Wanna buy a supreme court justice or a congress member? Nah fam, come back when you’re part of the 1%.

    (TLDR: Every country sucks and is corrupt in one way or another.)

    • gustofwind@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      In America if you break a driving law you typically get “points” on your license. Too many points and you lose it. Also more points = more expensive insurance costs per month.

      Or you can just pay a few hundred dollars and not get points instead

  • gustofwind@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    In America business and government are not actually separate. This is important to understand because it’s a structural feature of the American economy. We are a true capitalist libertaria. The government is comprised of the companies and people in business

    American business is America itself and the government is a co-leader whose purpose is to facilitate American business interests.

    This isn’t corruption like in the movies where you pay off crooked cops (which doesn’t really happen here). This is what businesses and individuals competing for political power looks like in a true capitalist libertaria.

  • RobotToaster@mander.xyz
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    3 days ago

    To really have influence we’d have to crowdfund an island where we can film politicians molesting children.