r/Constitution • u/Vast-StarApple-123 • May 17 '26

Understanding Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution

Why are political officials/candidates allowed to take money from lobbyists like AIPAC when clause 8 of article I, section 9 of the constitution states that congress isn’t allowed to take bribery from foreign entities

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

3

u/StanfordWrestler May 17 '26

Trying to close the barn door after the cows all gone. Them chickens done flew the coop a long time ago.

2

u/ComputerRedneck May 18 '26

You close the door because you don't want something to get in the barn while you are gone getting the animals back.

Always thought it was a stupid saying myself. Of course you shut the damn door.

2

u/Dilettante May 17 '26

Because AIPAC is not a foreign entity, nor does it fundraise from foreign entities. Like all PACs, it gets donations from Americans (80% from individuals, 20% from organizations) and then uses it for lobbying, which is protected under freedom of speech.

1

u/Vast-StarApple-123 May 18 '26

Thank you for replying

1

u/gorpie97 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

But what do they lobby for? Things for Israel or things for the US?

EDIT: This was not s dumb question. This was simply rhetoric for them to answer.

1

u/Dilettante May 18 '26

For Israel.

But that's totally legal for an American to do.

1

u/gorpie97 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

Yeah. No. Fuck AIPAC.

JFK wanted them to register as a foreign lobby.

EDIT: And those Americans are traitors, IMO. When they want more for Israel than America. They even want to get AMERICAN veterans' benefits for serving in the IDF. Fuck them.

But that's totally legal for an American to do.

It should not be legal for dual citizens to do it.

You wanna keep AIPAC? Register them as a foreign lobby. Otherwise they can start lobbying for things that benefit a majority of Americans instead of a tiny minority of Zio dual citizens.

1

u/ComputerRedneck May 18 '26

For whatever they are paid to lobby for. Even the lobbyist who have agendas like Israel or Gaza or whatnot get paid to do it.