What I don't understand is how the Jitney hasn't been allowed by regulation in the US -- they're incredibly convenient, and a fleet of minivans from the key districts to various park n' ride locations would make a ton of sense.
Taxi companies are required to service the whole city. If you allowed jitney service without that requirement in popular areas, the taxi services couldn't compete.
More specifically: Lobbyists tend to pursue an agenda of bans and mandates, and so long as your political system is dependent on the interests of lobbyists and their associated campaign financing, these goals will often be achieved.
My point is that you have no basis for your claim re: lobbyists and campaign funding. Use of government-granted monopolies to achieve particular ends predates modern media, and campaign funding was a much less pivotal issue back in the day when all the money in the world wouldn't buy you anything more than a newspaper ad.
Lobbyists have been around since there've been people to lobby, but the more money is involved in getting elected, the more acute the problem becomes.
You can't honestly think the billion dollars required to become president doesn't come with strings attached.
Money buys you influence. Don't think advertising is entirely in terms of media. Campaigns need a lot of people involved, and many of those people have to get paid. Modern media just means you need to spend even more money than you did before.
Don't the Googs and FBooks do almost exactly that, for employees? Not much of a step to do it for the paying public. Maybe the fiction of some association would get by current regulation/monopoly.
