Let's see if it is impossible to distinguish between bought and influenced by looking at different cases. I'll go from mild to pretty clear.
(1) I Went to university in town that had less than 100k population, but also over 50k students. There was a guy running for the city hall. He threw a big party near the campus with free booze and showed everyone a good time. And he gave a very brief speech that had zero policy content but emphasized there will be an even bigger party to celebrate his victory. Us, as students, didn't care one bit about what went in the city hall because although technically we were residents, in actuality we all considered ourselves people of our home towns. And in any event city hall policies did not affect our lives on campus. But we did like to party and have free booze. Was he buying votes or influencing us?
(2) You have a big essay due. Your dad is on the board of education and has direct power over your school district. He takes out your teacher for lunch and tells him that he thinks your modernist writing style is underappreciated and what he is looking for in the next district supervisor is someone who prefers modernism over classics. He is going to try to change teachers who stick to the old style. Is he buying your teacher or influencing him?
(3) You own a hospital and have a court case for wrongful death. One of the jurors has a sick child. You foot the bill and tell him that you believe jury duty is hard underappreciated work. If you were around, you'd take care of his kid who is in need of extensive care. Are you buying a verdict or influencing him?
(4) The city has a construction contract. As a builder, you demonstrate the quality of your workmanship for a couple of the council members via building them free swimming pools and home extensions. This, you say, is to demonstrate how you can deliver projects in timely and good quality manner. They vote for you to get the contract. Did you buy them or influence them?
(5) There's a hardnose prosecutor and a hanging judge tending to your court case. You bankroll the elections of an appeals judge and a DA who will have oversight of your case. They win against the incumbents and settle the case in your favor. Did you buy them or influence them?
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If you think it was impossible to figure out the difference between influence and bought in all of the above, then you are willfully blind. But if you think the above counts as jury tampering or conflicts of interest and the judge or DA or city councilman should have excused themselves, then why aren't you holding the legislature to the same standard?
Even if I were to agree with you that it is hard to distinguish, there is no reason to err on the side of corruption by allowing the incentives to muddy the issue.
BTW, I suggest that you dig into the history of how lobbying became legal and also how corporations became people. You'll be in for a surprise. The American system wasn't always so corrupt. |
