Comment by jollyllama
3 days ago
> That doesn't seem like enough to entirely shape worldwide discourse around nutrition and sugar.
People are often surprised when they find out how little people sell out for. The going rate for a member of congress in 2015 was a little less [0] - about $43,000.
[0] https://truthout.org/articles/you-too-can-buy-a-congressman/
> The going rate for a member of congress in 2015 was a little less [0] - about $43,000
If that's really the factor that swung the vote, there is more to it than that contribution. There may be a promise of a job after Congress. Or there may be an expectation of continued contributions.
Put another way, if you donate $43,000, you're not going to get a line item in a law. (Counterpoint: I've never donated more than a few thousand in my life, and I've had a hand in multiple state and now three federal laws. A lot of people don't civically engage. If you're the only person calling your elected on a bill they don't care about, and you aren't a nutter, they'll turn you into their de facto staffer on it.)
But buying off a single congressperson is not going to change the worldwide discourse on a topic.
How do you eat an entire elephant? One bite at a time.
How do you corrupt an entire government? One congressperson at a time.
Pick the right one and it might.
Or spend $23,134,000 on all of the House and Senate.
You probably only need 15% of congress. Some of the unbought ones will follow, some would vote for your side anyway, and there are often unrelated things in the bill that will bring a bunch of those who otherwise don't care about this issue with.
In theory, to change discourse, you just need one expert and a few magazine articles and the rest is history.