<story><title>Amazon Lobbied More Government Entities Than Any Other US Company Last Year</title><url>https://www.axios.com/amazon-lobbying-washington-wide-reach-0f7253e4-234e-462a-aca1-ca19705b9c39.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>afarrell</author><text>Lobbying in some form is explicitly protected by the 1st amendment. The question is: If you form a contract for someone else to petition for a redress of greivances on you behalf, is that contract void?</text></item><item><author>vicpara</author><text>You either allow lobbying or ban it. Amazon used a legal process to tip the balance in their favour. The entire lobbying thing does sound to me like a hack in the entire democratic process.&lt;p&gt;People should vote not companies.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>badpun</author><text>My limited (understanding) of the state of things in the US is that the lobbying itself is a problem mostly because the whole political system is driven by donations, which of course disproportionally come from the rich actors. Here in Poland the parties are sponsored by the state itself and donations are a very limited factor, which makes the lobbying not very effective and hence not a real factor.</text></comment>
<story><title>Amazon Lobbied More Government Entities Than Any Other US Company Last Year</title><url>https://www.axios.com/amazon-lobbying-washington-wide-reach-0f7253e4-234e-462a-aca1-ca19705b9c39.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>afarrell</author><text>Lobbying in some form is explicitly protected by the 1st amendment. The question is: If you form a contract for someone else to petition for a redress of greivances on you behalf, is that contract void?</text></item><item><author>vicpara</author><text>You either allow lobbying or ban it. Amazon used a legal process to tip the balance in their favour. The entire lobbying thing does sound to me like a hack in the entire democratic process.&lt;p&gt;People should vote not companies.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>snarfy</author><text>1st amendment rights apply to people.  They should not apply to corporations.</text></comment>