But as soon as money/gifts/favors are introduced, it’s automatically an uneven playing field.
Even if you discount or prevent direct bribes/corruption, there is still an imbalance when a particular group (e.g. the petroleum industry) can afford to employ people as full-time lobbyists, who spend their time and attention on nothing else. It’s much harder to write effective regulation against that, or enforce it.
The only useful response is to organize advocacy groups that can also afford to support full-time lobbyists (the ACLU, EFF, etc).
Even if you discount or prevent direct bribes/corruption, there is still an imbalance when a particular group (e.g. the petroleum industry) can afford to employ people as full-time lobbyists, who spend their time and attention on nothing else. It’s much harder to write effective regulation against that, or enforce it.
The only useful response is to organize advocacy groups that can also afford to support full-time lobbyists (the ACLU, EFF, etc).