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The Republicans want to win, Trump gives them the best chance of winning in 2020, just as he did in 2016. Except now he's an incumbent which makes his chances of winning more likely in 2020 than in 2016, especially when the Democrats have no one who could beat him.

That's because we've chosen to believe the magic words politicians say over a holy book when they're being sworn in - we quite literally rely on a politician's fear of the consequences of the Almighty monitoring them so why should our having a look-see be of any concern? No. This was the fear fishermen had when told they had to install cameras on their boats. Most fishermen crap in a bucket out on deck so you can see the problem clearly enough. They had to come up with solutions to protect privacy while preventing secrecy. The solution after everyone calmed down and actually started thinking about how to do this on the deck of a boat was that the cameras only start recording when the hydraulics that are used to haul gear are engaged. Simple. The solution for maintaining the privacy of lobbyists and politicians would be something like an app on a phone or tablet or something that turns recorders on whenever registered lobbyists are in close proximity with politicians and other senior civil servants. The only time everything they say needs to be monitored is when they're actually communicating with one another. Anyone caught trying to get around the system would need to be attended by human observers, at their cost. People said we should eliminate salmon fishermen. After throwing thousands of people and hundreds of business' out of work on the coast BC's richest billionaire wound up controlling some 40% of the quota. Problem solved? I don't think so.

Funny, but influence peddling is already illegal in many countries, including Canada, but we openly allow and never bother to police the results of lobbying. IMHO, if you decide to become a politician, EVERYTHING you do and say should be open to constant and unrestricted oversight by literally everyone. We also should elimnate lobbying altogether and tighten up dramatically influence peddling law, breach of trust law and conflict of interest law and enforce the hell out of them. As much as you and I may come at this from polar political opposite directions, reality of good government lies on some common ground in the middle. I will repeat (and will forever) the very defining test of good legislation and regulation is what I was told by Sir Roger Douglas on the subject. He stated that they did what they did legislatively and in regulation to recover from economic disaster in New Zealand to these four so important words: "We simply removed privilege". You will note that he is from a different part of politics and there is/was no partisan or other qualification to what he said, AND WHAT HE DID.

Why not just vote for a party that is going to outlaw corporate welfare, pandering to the large companies.....maybe it is time we shook the political parties up and try another party....

Sure, many commercial fishermen have cameras on their boats that record what is being caught and discarded. Cameras turn on as soon as the hydraulics used to haul fish are engaged. This record is audited and compared to written logs (validated) and further validation occurs dockside when delivering. You let authorities know when you're heading out and when you return to harbour) Tampering with cameras or the software gathering other data (gps data/lat long, depth etc) is enough to have you eliminated from the fishery - as will trying to offload without a validator present. If there are too many gaps or errors in your record you are required to take a human observer, at additional cost (we're responsible for the costs of our own oversight). If you report that you landed 1000 fish you better unload 1000 fish. It's that simple. Similar procedures could easily be used to keep politicians honest. Simply put, we need to outlaw in-camera lobbying. If lobbyists and politicians insist on meeting around the 18th hole or down at the club, fine, just ensure that their discussions are recorded so they can be validated by auditors and directly tied and matched to corresponding elements of whatever policy, legislation or decisions are made. It's not rocket science, it's political science.