Right-wing legal interests funded by the megawealthy are routinely feting lower-court judges and treating them to all-expenses-paid trips, which effectively function as a reward system for judges who espouse and maintain hard-line conservative legal views.
  • Th4tGuyII@kbin.social
    491·
    1 year ago

    Genuinely how is this not considered illegal in the US?
    If you tried this in most parts of Europe you’d be charged for committing bribery

    • Supervisor194@lemmy.world
      48·
      1 year ago

      The Supreme Court of the United States has decided that corporations are people and money is free speech.

      We have become what Benjamin Franklin feared we would become. He could see the future:

      “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.”

      • banneryear1868@lemmy.worldOP
        131·
        1 year ago

        The founders feared political factions forming above all and basically designed the government around not allowing factions to take absolute power, like separating the presidential office from the executive branch etc. and not even making the position clear. Presidents have basically pushed on the limits and defined the office over the years and political factions formed around economic interests of the people because of course they would. At first you basically needed a minimum amount of worked land to even vote in most states, men’s suffrage happened long before women’s. America was basically designed as a free real estate project and sort of still is.

        • greenskye@lemm.eeEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          Pretty sure the founders kind of assumed we’d have a couple of revolutions by now

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
        4·
        1 year ago

        when the people shall have become so corrupted as to need a despotic government.

        See that’s interesting. Franklin’s talking about society getting fucked up and naturally spawning a bad government above itself as a necessary part of its own structure.

        It’s not just that people get corrupt and form a despotic government, it’s that the world getting fucked up means despots are more likely to be liked and desired by people seeking safety from the corruption around them.

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
          1·
          1 year ago

          Or cultivate healthy emotions, and build the thing back into integrity again.

          Saying that our system collapses when a sense of honor collapses isn’t the worst criticism. I’m not sure that a system that could survive most people being awful would be worth living in.