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marcyb5sttoday at 11:53 AM2 repliesview on HN

Honestly, despite having a wife from the US (not an US citizen anymore), I agree with you.

It is really weird to me that such a thing as lobbying can be legal. Or the fact that you can donate to an election campaign so that they have more money to influence people.

And it is even more surprising that the vast majority of US people don't even question these things. I have the theory that American exceptionalism hinders their critical thinking when it comes to these kind of subjects. Ie "If we decided to do it like this, it means is the best way possible".


Replies

m000today at 4:12 PM

If you watch the news coverage for any kind of elections in the US, you would assume they are not determined by votes, but instead they are fundraising competitions: The one that raises the most money gets elected.

I can't recall any situation where the news report that someone is bound to win because people view their platform as superior, and not because they raised the most money.

I believe that such cases do exist (Mamdani would be one), but it seems that the traditional media intentionally insist on only reporting the money raised (i.e. promote the establishment-sponsored candidate) to make people give up on their vote.

amanaplanacanaltoday at 3:21 PM

A lot of people question them. But the supreme Court has decided that giving money is equivalent to free speech, and can't be touched. I don't know how we will ever get out of that problem.