Cheddar_Bay

Precisely how much brainpower does it require to twist your thoughts into justifications for occupying someone's private property? Especially in a capitalistic society where people have no ceiling and can absolutely attain whatever it is they want, not even within reason.

One of my close friends stopped paying rent last year because the landlord stopped providing heat and hot water and we’ve been staying here since.

That's not squatting. You are legally entitled to withhold rent if a domicile isn't up to a minimum standard of living. I would imagine heat in NY and hot water would be among those standards.

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So after a lot of back-and-forth in my own head about it and talking with former law school professors, I decided that the answer isn't taking a certain type of speech away from a certain group, but providing access to that type of speech to everyone else.

The answer IS taking away "a certain type of speech." First and foremost, that ruling is total bullshit. Giving money to politicians does not qualify as "speech" to any reasonable person. It is legalized bribery and to attempt to twist it into anything other than that is avoiding and enabling the problem. We need people speaking up against lobbying, not finding new platforms for it.

And while I think your goal is genuinely noble, I view it as a sort of a fool's errand for a couple of reasons. A crodfunded campaign is never going to have a personal relationship with a politician. Lobbyists play golf, go on trips, eat dinner, have drinks etc etc etc with politicians and their families on a regular basis. The politician is always going to have more loyalty to an individual they know versus a campaign that they simply take money from. Sure, the money is a part of it, but not the whole thing when it comes to lobbying. Personal relationships are a big part in it.

The second big issue is influence and the organization it requires to apply the influence. There are a lot of moving parts to lobbying including influencing media to alter people's opinions and perception and a whole lot of dirty play. At the end of the day, a politician's main goal is to continue to be re-elected and move up the political totem pole to garner more power. I'm not sure how a crowdfunded lobbying campaign could hire private investigators, dig up dirt on politicians, blackmail them and get news stations to run stories on them to quash their ability to be reelected.

I do have a couple of questions about the platform though. How exactly is the money disbursed to whoever is going to receive the money? Are they going into specific politician's reelection funds or a specific party or group?

the organisations behind that care are stashing away the profits in tax havens.

Corruption isn't limited to capitalism. It is in every layer of any institution with power or potential to practice it everywhere in the world since the dawn of man. The hunters were probably forcing the gatherers to perform sexual favors for protein. I don't see what that has to do with capitalism in particular.

maybe it's that way for a lucky few but the odds are overwhelmingly against anyone who isn't born in to money if you ask me.

That's a ridiculous statement. It has never been easier in history to make money than it is right now. You have an entire planet of consumers available to you from any local Starbucks. You have thousands of outlets to sell homemade arts and crafts that cost you pennies to make if that is what you want to do for money. You have financial products you can access with just a checking account that were always reserved for just the elite. There are crowdfunding platforms so you can bootstrap just an idea that you have. Hell, you have access to the entirety of human knowledge at your fingertips to learn new skills in audio, video and text format! There have been literally millions of new millionaires in the past few years. You think all those people came from money to begin with?

EDIT: Feel free to downvote, but please provide a rebuttal.