It absolutely IS legalised bribery. That's why the US isn't ranked as the most corrupt of all western countries in every study; doesn't count if it's legal and expected.
How can this be legal? Sorry I'm a real dimwit today. Maybe Americans should focus on getting rid of lobbyists with money first. That'll get rid of a lot of problems.
So the reason it isn't considered bribery is because they're not paying anyone to change their positions so much as finding people who already agree with their positions and dumping money on them to win elections.
Less direct quid pro quo bribery and more patron client sponsorship.
That's why the whole money is speech thing happened, because the way the system operates basically amounts to using funds as a form of public endorsement, which is a protected form of free speech, and it's pretty hard to say why one group should be able to do that while another shouldn't without one of those groups already being in jail.
The problem is that the system doesn't publicly finance elections, and as a result, can't justify why some should be able to donate while others shouldn't.
I get it, but wouldn't it be easier to just make lobbying free and let everyone have a say instead of taking the money and risking the nation's security by foreign influence?
I mean, it's just opening up your country for catastrophe at this point.
First, I think you're wrong. But my speculation regarding the future is no more valid than yours, so there's that.
But second, they've been doing the Hillary-smear against her from the time she took office, and it has never let up. Much as it pains me to compare an intelligent, principled lawmaker against that empty vapid windbag, she's nearly as much of a lightning rod to republicans as trump is to anyone sane. She's unfortunately got no shot at the whitehouse unless our country and our politics change dramatically.
If I'm wrong, that's great, but I suspect I'll be dead of old age before things could change enough for her to have a shot. Maybe by the time she's a senior citizen.
In the meantime though, I hope she keeps getting elected and keeps fighting the good fight. If that happens, I expect her ability to enact change will only increase, even if she never makes it to the oval office.
Nah, she's not Elizabeth Warren. She sticks to her principles when it makes things more difficult for herself too.
As evidenced by her correct opposition to the Amazon complex destroying a historical neighbourhood in her district while engaging in state-sanctioned tax evasion.
People who believed the lies of Amazon and corrupt demagogues still try (often successfully) to use that against her.
AIPAC is a bigoted propaganda apparatus for an apartheid state and an endorsement from them should be considered as toxic as an endorsement from the KKK or Rick Snyder who deliberately poisoned the drinking water of Flint, Michigan and then lied about it.
Bernie is still going with the "israel has the right to defend itself" meme while international law says israel factually doesn't have that right as it is an illegal occupier.