Elon Musk never passed a law. The representatives chosen by the voters did. These representatives do not magically enter the government; they are selected by the voters. The voters freely decide wether they wish to have representatives who pass laws which are benefitial to Elon Musk.
> Politicians are the ones that introduce these laws
Technically yes. But politicians (the actual rep's themselves) do not really write the laws - they just agree on the spirit of the law of which they're pursuing and then basically sell it to other members.
It's the equivalent of engaging a Partner at a big 4 consultancy. They show up for the sales call, but are nowhere to be found when the solution they sold actually gets implemented.
We did present it to the legislators that way. They didn't care. The way it works is, the lobbyists for the dealers go and meet with the legislators behind closed doors or in the hallways of the Roundhouse (NM State Capitol) and they tell them not to vote yes on a bill in committee. They provide a few talking points as to why. Usually these legislators already take money from the lobbyists. (Dealers give like half a million a year to the legislators' campaigns; it's all disclosed.) So by the time the committee has its hearing, the votes are already decided. The whole "debate" and the testimony from witnesses is largely theatre. You wind up with anti-Tesla legislators all rattling off the verbatim talking points of the dealers, as if the whole thing is scripted. We pointed out that Tesla has no franchisees so how does this law apply, etc. Doesn't matter. Falls on deaf ears. They're already bought. Their mind is made up.
I would not trust a single representative to be sufficiently knowledgeable to draft or vote on legislation affecting cryptocurrency, nuclear submarines, automobile emissions standards, advertising standards, building safety codes, and so many other things.
Instead, the legislation is prompted by those who form interest groups, and the fine details put together either in writing the law or by the administrative officials from the relevant executive office.
These people get their expertise by having worked in those fields, or knowing others who do.
The alternatives are arguably worse- legislation written by people who genuinely have no idea what they are talking about (which does still happen too often) or government so tiny and limited in scope that it may as well be nothing more than a militia.
Actually Congress cannot pass a law regulating it per the 10th amendment. They can pass laws governing other things that effectively regulate this--often by withholding federal funds from states that do not comply--but have no power over this specific issue.
If Musk wants the US Congress to interfere, maybe he should sell liquor in the most lavish and expensive and functional "bottle case" ever conceived. But selling liquor in a car "case" might not be the best PR move. hehe.
Companies provide written legislation that is ratified into law with at most an assistant reading through it. Regular citizen constituency lacks the coordination and resources and bribery power to do likewise and must instead wait years between votes to try to find better representation.
We do elect our officials, but the way legislation gets pushed through is typically lobbied by special interests. In some cases the laws themselves are written by those same special interests rather than written by the legislative bodies.
It does, governments can pass laws, big businesses can't. They may buy politicians to pass the laws for them but in the end they can't pass the laws themselves.
Legislators tend to not write the laws anymore. They just take the copy the lobby groups have prepared in advance and submit it as a bill. Congressmen don't even bother to read the laws they vote for.
Corporations do effectively make law, at least in the US. Politicians have neither the time nor the expertise. There have been some widely read articles about how sometimes that law is not even freely available to the public.
The so-called legislators and “lawmakers” in the USA also don’t write laws. The process is complicated, but at an overview level the real lawmakers hire lobbyists to go find an office holder to rubber stamp a bill they have written and want enacted. The lobbyists are just bagmen of course.
Cute cynicism, but you elect representatives who in turn appoint people to positions of authority. That's how this works. The laws are created and managed by people put into power by the governed.
I understand that may go against your Freshman sociology 101 libertarian mantra, but the real world has already sorted this out and it tends to work pretty well.
What, the Americans working at Apple and Google and Microsoft and own stock in them suddenly aren’t citizens? What about the Board of Directors at each of them?
Legislative bodies is where politics is supposed to happen, and legislators don’t live in a vacuum. We don’t elect them and send them up to the top of an ivory tower for two years to philosophize about policy with the occasional edict sent down. So how do legislators know what kinds of policies people actually want when there’s about 700K people in their districts (and 39M constituents if you’re a California Senator) unless people show up and say, “Hey, this is what I want from you, this is why I elected you.”
You get a mixed bag because legislatures are a mixed bag representing a larger mixed bag, and sorry, newspaper polls aren’t a good stand in for showing up and putting your name down for consideration. Your interests as a citizen are not identical to the other 699,999ish of your neighbors, and the guy or gal representing you is just one person of a larger body.
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