If you think Citizens United is the major benefactor of that court ruling, you're only fooling yourself. Or not looking at your own party and how they actually took even more advantage of that ruling in 2014, and vastly outspent/lobbied the repubs prior to that election cycle.frvcvs said:As someone who's been openly opposed to raising the minimum wage and gov't mandated healthcare because it hurts small businesses what kind of service do you expect small businesses to provide if they're paying their employees $7.75/hr with no healthcare?Surfdog said:It's tough to compete with the Wal-Marts and Home Depot's out there, but it can be done. You need a nitch and be much more service oriented than what they can offer for cheaper prices. Service does matter to many people, and they will keep coming back, if it's better, quicker, more knowledgeable, etc;. It's tougher to compete against corpos, but not impossible if you offer what they can't. Price isn't ALWAYS everything.
You said earlier in the thread that we should lift up and elevate the poor. I agree but you don't do that by paying them less, gutting all of the social safety nets that are holding them up and most of all gutting public education. You don't make things better by pulling the plug and cutting funding and programs. You reform and invest in them.
I agree with almost all of this. Particularly the lobbying part. The best thing we could ever do is kick lobbyists on all sides of the issues out of Washington. Overturn Citizens United and employ real and effective campaign finance reform laws changing the way our politicians run for reelections. What good is an elected official if they spend their days fundraising for reelection and doing the bidding of those who are gonna pay for their next campaign. We need to change that. Congressman and Senators need to spend their time working for their constituents and doing their jobs. Maybe one long single term is the solution. No reelections. But citizens united will be the downfall of this country, I'm sure you can agree on that one right?Surfdog said:But, taxation, fees, restrictions and penalties should be limited to business size and/or incomes. A magic number needs to be surpassed to kick in higher taxes, fees, etc;. Where that line is drawn is the tough part. But this is also where lobbiest and politicians start putting out their hands, so it's tough.
I actually think the whole idea of "lobbiests" needs to be thrown out the window.
ALL lobbying of politicians, both sides, needs to go away, for ANY kind of campaign reform. Lobbying has bastardized our whole political ideology and will never really change unless its abolished COMPLETELY. This will be tough medicine, for both sides, but it needs to be done. They're addicted to it like the crack whores they all are.