If we are talking about lobbying and regulation, it helps to follow the money and the rules that allow it.
Back when politicians were banned from using campaign cash as personal piggy banks, they wrote in a grandfather clause that was not fully closed until the 1990s. Closing that loophole caused a massive turnover of senior politicians rushing to retire before 1993 so they could walk away with millions in cash. But incoming classes of politicians simply adapted, finding new ways to keep the corporate money pipeline open.
When raising money under standard rules got tight, we got the 2010 Citizens United ruling. The lawsuit was brought by Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group created by Republican political operatives. The 5 to 4 conservative Supreme Court majority ruled in their favor, opening the floodgates for corporate treasuries, Super PACs, and dark money to buy unlimited political influence.
While Big Pharma lines the pockets of both parties to hedge its bets and buy access, historical campaign finance data from OpenSecrets shows they lean heavier toward Republicans (around 60 to 64 percent) because the GOP platform routinely opposes drug price caps and strict regulatory oversight. When Democrats actually passed statutory Medicare drug price negotiations in the Inflation Reduction Act, pharma fought it tooth and nail, and congressional Republicans voted against it across the board.
The political irony is watching the Trump administration launch direct to consumer platforms like TrumpRx, taking credit for lowering prescription costs under their own brand name, while their party fought to block statutory government negotiation frameworks at every turn.
If people want to fix this system, they have to look at who created and protected the legal framework that allows corporate dark money to dominate our elections in the first place.