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[wierd]

I dont think it is wrong to petition congress. On the contrary, I feel that is very important.

But I also think that situations like Dodd: MPAA spokesman should never come to pass, and "revolving door politics" should not be a thing.

The only real way to do that is to be hard on lobbyists.

[Helgoland]

-snip-

I would make it unlawful, via the constitution, for any person to have ever served in a lobby from ever serve in federal government

He specifically wants a lifelong ban, which is fairly problematic for the same reasons that it's problematic to bar criminals from voting.

Why do some political groups get preferential treatment in your eyes?

They don't - I could just as well have mentioned the NRA there, but the groups I chose are more respected around these parts.
Consider the following: If I do some pro bono work as a student, or become active in an NGO, or whatever, is it really sensible to make it impossible for me to run for office? Many great politicians started their career working for some organization you'd call a lobby, just because they were trying to do some good for the people. Your proposed amendment will in effect keep almost all idealists from becoming politicians while doing nothing to keep out opportunists - and those are the ones who will be affected most by lobbyist corruption.

In the situation of the wife being MPAA head, and the husband being the senator, I guess they will just both have to order daily catering, and keep separate bills, and file taxes separately.

Aaaaaand you just fucked over the mayor of a two-bit town whose wife happens to be the head of the local Girl Scouts section and applied for public funding for a field trip. They simply can't afford that, and they shouldn't have to. Keep in mind that you use a lot of absolutes, and are talking about a huge amount of people.

(And yes, I mean the people who actually get chatty with congress people. The real question to ask is "What of the people who write letters to their congressman?!" I dont have a good answer for that.)

Points to your proposal being a wee bit too extreme, doesn't it?

[wierd]

As much as slippery slope is a logical fallacy, trying to write in seemingly sensible exceptions gives rise to abuse.

Posterchild: "Commerce clause"

The intent is to prevent former government officials, who retain deep contacts within government, from becoming high power lobbyists, and vise versa with high power lobbyists becoming politicians.

If you start allowing certain edge cases, you are inviting the legal accumen of monied interests to hack your statute.

The problem with allowing exceptions based on time, or some other attempted mitigating factor, does not make people forget their contact lists, does not remove "name clout", and other such currency from the dealings.  At some point, a hard line DOES need to be drawn.

[Shadowlord]

If you want to nerf lobbying and end the revolving door, why don't you brainstorm up a way to make lobbying pointless or ineffective?

[wierd]

You misunderstand.

Being able to petition congress is an important right, and essential to our form of government.

The problem, is that when very powerful (aka, wealthy or influential) people hog the channel, and use other means (aka, bribes and things like bribes that legally arent) to get the ears of Congress people, bad things come from it. (Like the ever increasing stampede of copyright extensions, SOPA, PIPA, TPP, and pals.)

I dont want to stop lobbying. I want to level the playing field on lobbying, and want to prevent this latter kind of corruption.

[TheBiggerFish]

PTW.

[My Name is Immaterial]

PTW.

[TheBiggerFish]

"Only persons may benefit from the protections of the First, Third, Fifth, Eighth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty Fourth, and Twenty Sixth Amendments. While the term "person" is not defined in this Amendment and may be defined by other law, no definition of the term shall include entities that, by their nature, cannot be imprisoned, executed, fined, and/or deported from the United States. Notably, legal corporations cannot be considered persons, and so cannot benefit from these protections."

Actually, can I make this mine?

[Egan_BW]

All previous statements in this document, and all other legal documents, are now rendered null and void. The whole of the law shall be thus: obey my will.

[Dorsidwarf]

AMENDMENT 666: HORSEHORSEHORSE SHALL HORSEHORSEHORSEHORSE. This statement has legal rights to existence in the U.S constitution because it is hyper-sapient.

[TheBiggerFish]

AMENDMENT 666: HORSEHORSEHORSE SHALL HORSEHORSEHORSEHORSE. This statement has legal rights to existence in the U.S constitution because it is hyper-sapient.

I think we just found Andrew Hussie.

[SomeStupidGuy]

Probably just like, drop the second amendment. It's dead weight and the only good that's come of it is the potential for bad puns.

[Bauglir]

Probably just like, drop the second amendment. It's dead weight and the only good that's come of it is the potential for bad puns.

you can pry my t-shirts from my cold, dead shoulders

[wierd]

I am keeping my bear arms dammit!

[IronyOwl]

I'd probably want something about how laws, regulations, and so on are invalid and anyone found enforcing them is subject to full criminal and civil penalties unless said law has a clearly stated purpose whose implementation in this manner is held in good standard by the scientific community. Then I'd try and fail to figure out how to define all those terms, and despair when everyone bypasses it entirely by stating that the purpose of each law and decision is to "enforce the will of the people passing this law/making this regulation," which would always be scientifically ironclad.

But in glorious utopian vision, it'd mean you couldn't do anything without either being scientifically sound or admitting that your thing doesn't actually do what it's supposed to, and that anything we later found out didn't work that way after all would automatically shut off.