The old-fashioned way is to buy access by making campaign contributions to incumbent politicians and hiring professional lobbyists to help them craft the desired legislation. This can be expensive and time-consuming. And the results are not guaranteed.
Today there's a better way.
Ironically, they are exploiting hard-won democratizing reforms of an earlier era. Eastern and Southern political establishments largely resisted the initiative and referendum. However, citizens' groups won the reform in more populist Midwestern and Western states. Voters in these states used ballot initiatives to regulate businesses, legislate working conditions, and expand women's rights. Now the law in 24 states, the initiative and referendum gives about half the U.S. population the opportunity to exercise a limited measure of direct democracy.