Why do lawmakers need to talk some interest groups? If they don't have enough information to make laws, they should appoint expert groups to collect information. Talking to money bags is going to help only one thing.
I wish that was the case, but it is not.
Take, for example, the recent time zone changes in Canada. It's obvious that every single electronic device capable of showing current local time needs to be updated and that's first order effect of the law. And yet Manitoba gave ~4.5 weeks notice w/o speaking to anyone.
TBF Canada is not an exception and governments do that quite often, but that's does not make the situation better. One can only hope that the US and EU will give enough time to prepare for DST cancellation.
In other words, they’re selling a product to their buyers, and the product is politicians.
Point being, it's impossible to build incorruptible institutions, groups of experts, etc, but we need them nonetheless.
Lobbying in it's most basic form is simply the act of petitioning politicians that represent you, which is pretty essential in a democracy.
If you've ever called your Senator or representative to tell them you oppose a law that will negatively impact you - you've just done a little lobbying
So... you'll have the representatives make their own lobbying groups? Also, each "expert" will have their own bias, so in doing so you'll inadvertently (or intentionally) block hearing from the wider community.
A lobbying group is dead-set on their preferred policy or solution to a problem, an expert group would be much more open-minded and exploratory. I don't see how these are comparable.
> Also, each "expert" will have their own bias, so in doing so you'll inadvertently (or intentionally) block hearing from the wider community.
Everyone has a bias, you can't reasonably remove that. Besides, hearing from the wider community will not make you less biased if the majority of the community is also strongly biased. However, a lobbying group has a pile of cash backing up their opinion (even if it is false), while a group of experts would be both more knowledgeable and likely have a more diverse set of views. It would be so much better.