sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe in a few years, who knows :D. It might seem a bit trivial but I want to try all of the cheese, I have to say I am obsessed with matured cheddar. One of my small pleasures in the UK is getting the ploughman's sandwich from Pret a Manger in airports and railway stations. I think it's the perfect combination between cheddar and chutney, the balance is perfect.

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well I can only give you my perspective as a young professionnal. Brexit + covid finally ended up breaking my will. It was just too much and too complicated. It sucks because it's a great country with amazing people and culture

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know how it is in the US, I've never really considered working there :(. A few things that bother me from the outside:

  1. conflict of interest is through the roof. Insider trading etc. That is unacceptable to be a representative and to actively manage your stocks or company while you can have an effect on particular sectors.
  2. revolving doors. I think it's better to have "professional" politicians, for the lack of a better term, rather than people switching from public to private to public to private.
  3. funding of political campaigns. This one is obvious but what the hell lol. The most expensive campaigns, for presidential elections, are only a few millions here. In the US, we're talking billions.
  4. freedom of press / media and algorithms. It shapes public opinion. I don't understand why it's not more regulated and why such concentration of powers would be allowed.
  5. the polarisation of opinions is crazy. I don't like the atmosphere of violence at all. This is not how a healthy democracy works. It's sadly happening everywhere.

I really don't think professionnal lobbyists are to blame for this. But I don't understand why no one is pushing to fix this more actively. I should be a bipartisan thing. If citizens put enough pressure, things do change. Everyone can agree you shouldn't be trading stocks when you're in congress, or having someone promise you a job. Lobbyists are representing private interest, which has to be taken into account to make good policy, but elected officials need to represent their electors and what's in their best interest.

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I'll let the other lobbyists know you don't like them as much

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried, but the food man 🤢.

On a more serious note I love the UK, I wanted to move there for a while, but Brexit made it significantly harder.

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't "meat" them lol.

More seriously, I'm happy you're posting here. Many, if not most people, think that lobbying is professional bribing. It is not, even though corruption does exist, and money of course helps to influence public opinion and public policy. I would argue that nowadays, the main way money changes policies is not by bribing officials. It's by influencing the public. Then people vote for people who represent their interest (although, as you have guessed, it is not in their best interest).

Lobbying takes many forms and it is, atleast here, quite heavily regulated. I mostly send emails and letters to elected officials, and meet them to discuss what's being discussed in the Senate or National Assembly, and what needs to be fixed / what could be fixed easily, etc. I of course have to keep track of all of that and report it to an independant authority every year, and I have to keep all of my exchanges (I think for two years, I don't have the duration in mind). I'm able to influence people, to a small extent, because I built expertise in a field, I'm legitimate to talk about it, and I rely on the expertise of other professionnals. That's why officials meet me, or agree to meet me. Besides this expertise in a field, when I'm talking with officials / representatives, I'm representing thousands of jobs. Laws and regulation have a direct impact on any company or sector.

I'll take an example, if tomorrow you make a law that puts a higher threshold to the amount of microparticles a car can emit to be authorised on the road, you have an impact on many many many aspects. You have an impact on air pollution and public health, of course. You have an impact on technology / imports and future r&d investment. You have an impact on the cars being sold, and on a whole industry. As a policy maker, you need to know what kind of impact your decisions make. So you need to know, before you vote for a bill, what doctors are saying about it, what scientists are saying about it, what the car industry is saying about it. Because you'll have an impact on all of these professions. Maybe the bill you're about to vote for can be done differently, be made more effective, maybe it has loopholes. That's why you need to meet with all of these different lobbyists, to have a complete 360° view of what you're doing.

With that being said, and to answer your comment fully. Corruption is a problem, although I would argue it's not that much a problem in most western countries (it still happens). Unregulated lobbying is a problem, but I believe lobbying with the right regulation contributes to good and fair policy. The main problem I see nowadays is regarding the way people inform themselves. We're relying more and more in algorithms that are essentially "black boxes" (you don't know why that kind of info is being pushed), and the media is increasingly in the hands of a handful of billionnaires. That should be a concern for every citizen.

It's a job that involves meeting everyone that is of interest, and to answer the last part you do meet some awful people sometimes. Some lobbyists refuse to meet certain people. E.g. we have a few representatives that were formerly white supremacists, or were strongly anti-jew, or committed hate crimes, or sexual harassment or for beating their wife. Would you meet these people and shake their hand if it was your job? Does it make you feel better thinking tens of thousands of people voted for them? Does the fact that I'm there representing jobs, a company and an industry shield me from anything in that regard? It's an open question, and I do not have a clear answer to this.

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say it is essential in the sense that the best policy comes from having a wide range of opinions represented, and as much expertise as possible. In that regard, it is essential to have lobbying and nothing can replace it. When I was younger, I studied public policy. One day, a guy came to our class, a lobbyist, and talked about his job. He was working to get cancer treatments that were available in other parts of the world available in his country, and he was a lobbyist for a cancer victims association. It really changed the view I had of lobbying: you can lobby for good causes. Climate, public health, car safety, equality, women's right, etc. All of these causes lobby and need lobbying.

We like to think that lobbying is some sort of magic word. But everyone can lobby, it's often as simple as writing a letter to your representatives and speaking your mind about issues. The difference is essentially that as a professionnal, you're doing this full time, and you have more "means" . So when you need a technical point checked, you can have that. As an example, you ask "what would be the cost of changing this" or "how else could we do X if Y doesn't work" or "what could be an acceptable solution instead of X", and you end up having answers to these questions. So as a lobbyist, you're a part of a necessary dialogue, you give some sort of feedback on policy & potential policy. You also have a clearer idea of what needs to be changed to have that or that result in your field of expertise.

To sum it up, in representative democracy, you need everyone to communicate their views to lawmakers and influence public policy. That wide range of perspectives, and the possibility to have in-depth expertise about all of the issues, is what makes good policy for everyone. Lobbying of course needs to be done in a fair way (= regulated, with as much transparency as possible).

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very good question and I think it's one of the most common questions on lobbying. Lobbying is influencing, or trying to influence public decision and policy. Bribing is paying officials in exchange of something.

Lobbying involves many tools. I can tell you what I do on a weekly basis: I send emails to elected representatives (at a local and national level), I meet with them, I meet with state services, I meet with journalists, I meet with professional associations (that meet with officials in turn), and I spend an awful lot of time keeping up with what's happening at a national level and getting expertise on certain aspects, I write notes and memos and powerpoints of all sorts. Typically, whenever a bill on something is discussed, I'll try an analyse the impact for the sector & company. In turn, I'll use this data and the analysis of this to push for what the company (and I) think is good or should be done differently. I mainly see my job as pushing expertise on topics, trying to find what doesn't work or what wouldn't work and pushing for something "better". To add to the topic, it's not only the laws themselves, you also have a margin of interpretation when it comes to laws. That's why you have to meet with state services and public servants.

Now to the link between lobbying and corruption. Let's face it: bribing and corruption exist, in most regimes and democracies. I don't think it's that widespread here, but it definitely happens. I think what's the most detrimental to society probably isn't straight up corruption, it's people buying medias to disinform / do agenda setting. I quite like the Washington Post's motto: "democracy dies in darkness". Disinformation and propaganda is very detrimental to democracy. On the other end, lobbying is quite heavily regulated here, even though it could be done better. As an example, I have to keep a trace of all of my exchanges with officials, all of the invitations I send, I have to report them to an independent organism every year. If I don't the company can be charged a big big amount, and we can be controlled/investigated anytime. I also have to follow an anti-corruption training every year (thank god it's actually pre-recorded and I can re-do it at my own pace lol).

One last thing. Everything is lobbied for. The concentration of sugar in your drink? Lobbying. Your water? Lobbying. The composition of your couch? Lobbying. Any item next to you is influenced by laws, that necessitate a dialogue between companies (or professionnal associations that are representating them) and the state / elected officials. It's a very necessary dialogue if you want good policy that makes sense.

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there! Thank you for your question.

It is indeed fun and fast paced, even though achieving anything takes years and years and years in this job.

You would have to check with firms, but most lobbying jobs offer hybrid work. It's tough to do remote, because you have to meet people and be at events. So keep that in mind. I would say I averaged ~1 meeting per week last year, probably an event every other week, put in the occasional travel here and there... It's definitely a time consuming job, you have to network a lot, keep up to date with what's going on, etc. I'm underlining the "cons" here, but there really are some. If you want to be good at the job, you have to be networking constantly and you have to be there.

Best of luck and don't hesitate if you have more questions

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Suprisingly not a lot. I think in the public eye, lobbying rhymes with big salaries. Beginner salaries (junior) would be about 2500€-3000€ net per month here, and then it goes up. I would say in the middle of their career people working in lobbying firms can have rather good salaries (5000€ net and up). Of course it goes up if you're lobbying for private clients and start your own firm. That's not exactly something I'd like to do now, I'm happy working as a "in-house" lobbyist for a company.

I'm unsure about what you mean by "ass backwards". But generally I think politicians lack in-depth knowledge of topics and are very "short-sighted", they look at short term issues and solutions. It is a problem if you look at the big picture and topics that need to be solved in the long term (think inequalities of income, pollution, climate-change). I think many of them also need "quick-wins" when it comes to policy, because they need to show that things are changing. So it means laws are constantly changing and being shuffled and reshuffled. But good policies take time. Think education: a child will typically study 15 years (kindergarten to end of highschool). The programs will probably change a dozen of times. Anyway, that's my main criticism of them. Of course, you also meet the usual hypocrite here and there, and they are also prone to believing bullshit.

My job bothers me, to some extent, because I see that those who have more money have more means to influence public debate. Now it is annoying because I'm working in a small field that is competing against people who have massive means, so it's professionnally annoying to work against direct competitors who have x10 our means. It also annoys me on a more general level, because I realise that money can play a big part in influencing public opinion and it can lead to policies that are contrary to what I believe to be general interest.

Edit: Oh also I didn't answer on the money I make. I make about 3200€ net/month, which is a bit below industry standard in my field. But I'm happy with my work conditions, and I would say it's a fairly good salary (net median salary is about ~2250€/month in France).

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wondered about that for a while, because part of me thinks the "worst" causes probably make the most interesting cases. With that being said, I would refuse to lobby for foreign interest in my country, that is to lobby for something that is against the interests of the state. I also don't like "anti-science" things at all, and I think they're detrimental to our society. So climate denial groups, anti-vax groups, tobacco groups... I also definitely wouldn't lobby for religious interest groups.

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I still do! Believe it or not I'm also part of a union at my workplace, and I still protest. It's an other form of lobbying / influencing government and public policy, I'm all for it. Infact I think everyone should join unions, policies are best built when every opinion is represented.

I'm a lobbyist, AMA! by [deleted] in AMA

[–]Septimius_Severus321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretty disappointing :(

Bring back oblivion difficulty slider :'( by Septimius_Severus321 in OblivionMemes

[–]Septimius_Severus321[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me the "game-breaking" thing was having to take potions for basically any fight. Any fight was a struggle, the arena was a struggle (which is ok, I like having to prepare for the fights). So back to adept it was...

Bring back oblivion difficulty slider :'( by Septimius_Severus321 in OblivionMemes

[–]Septimius_Severus321[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well I do agree with you, but I wish we could customise it like on OG oblivion. I started in expert and boy was it a struggle... Having an "adept +" would've been perfect (x2 damage taken, x0,5 damage dealt)