Quora Answer: How Do You Feel about Members of Congress Accepting Lobbying Money?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How do you feel about the members of Congress accepting lobbying money from industries like ‘Big Pharma’, insurance, and more?”

Speaking as a Singaporean, where I come from, we consider that bribery and corruption.  I cannot understand how this is considered acceptable and ethical.  This essentially means that the people who craft the laws are influenced by the very interested parties that they are supposed to regulate.  This obvious conflict of interest is why American politicians lack credibility.  They do not represent the people that voted them in, but the ones who finance their campaign.

This is but one part of a larger campaign financing issue that the US faces.  Campaign financing laws need to be reformed, and lobbying proscribed.  PACs should be outlawed, because they provide an avenue for anyone, including foreign nationals and entities, to mask their perpetuation of vested interests by having politicians who are nothing more than their employees.