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Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. [1] Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, including individuals acting as voters, constituents, or private citizens, corporations pursuing their business interests, nonprofits and NGOs ...
Lobbying can have a strong influence on the political system; for example, a study in 2014 suggested that special interest lobbying enhanced the power of elite groups and was a factor shifting the nation's political structure toward an oligarchy in which average citizens have "little or no independent influence".
When lobbying did happen in those days, it was often "practiced discreetly" with little or no public disclosure. [4] By one account, more intense lobbying in the federal government happened from 1869 and 1877 during the administration of President Grant [6] near the start of the so-called Gilded Age. The most influential lobbies wanted railroad ...
Lobbying, a standard method used to influence or change a piece of legislation, is a common practice at all levels of legislature, including the United States Congress and local legislation. [1] [2] In the U.S., direct lobbying involves direct methods used by a lobbyist when attempting to influence a legislative body.
Some Lobby groups have considerable financial resources at their disposal. Lobbying is regulated to stop the worst abuses which can develop into corruption. In the United States the Internal Revenue Service makes a clear distinction between lobbying and advocacy. [18] Lobby groups spend considerable amounts of money on election advertising as well.
The executive branch of the government also lobbies Congress (the federal government's legislative branch) to influence the passing of treaties. As an example, in 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lobbied Congress in an attempt to "save one of President Obama’s few foreign policy victories: an arms-control treaty with Russia".
Lobbying includes approaching a public official in secret, possibly giving them money. But petitioning, as America's founders knew it, was a public process, involving no money. Some litigants have contended that the right to petition the government includes a requirement that the government listen to or respond to members of the public.
It can also mean substantial monetary rewards for the lobbying firms and government projects and contracts in the hundreds of millions for those they represent. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] An example is the revolving door between U.S. politics and military industry.