get used to the fact that well educated employees of CORPORATIONS! BIG CORPORATIONS! BAD CORPORATIONS! who live in diverse cities will donate millions and millions of dollars to democratic candidates. that does not mean that democrats are the party trying to loosen regulations on them. the opposite is true.
it's only a bribe if it's illegal or dishonest. there are millions of employees of BIG BAD CORPORATIONS who donates hundreds of millions of dollars to democrats every cycle. they do it not because they are ELITISTS! with big bad salaries, but because they belive in a leftist or even moderately left view. does not make them ESTABLISHMENT! at all.
and idiots are starting threads about president obama getting paid for a speech while the state department is using taxpayer dollars to promote mar-a-lago on a government website. whoever started this thread is a fucking idiot.
Straw man argument? I'm on record as saying I have nothing against corporations, only their ability to shovel cash into our political system.
I agree it must be done systemically.
Bribes are made illegal because of their ability to give special privileges to those who do it.
Legalizing the behavior does not alter its effects, which is to gain special access at the expense of others.
Corporate campaign cash, especially that which need not be disclosed, certainly meets the definition.