Political and Governmental Corruption Is a Feature, Not a Bug

by | Nov 4, 2016

Political and Governmental Corruption Is a Feature, Not a Bug

by | Nov 4, 2016

People do not oppose corruption in politics and government. They oppose only the corruption that does not steer loot and social domination to them. After all, the entire process of so-called democratic government is nothing but corruption writ large and backed by the threat of violent force.

Political partisans in particular are utterly unprincipled in regard to the corruption of the political process. If the Republicans are exposed as receiving unlawful campaign contributions or perpetrating political dirty tricks, the Democrats howl to high heaven, and vice versa. Of course, neither major party has a lock on corruption. In Washington, the state capitals, and the county and city councils, corruption is an equal-opportunity practice.

Indeed, it’s why the massive federal, state, and local governments exist in the first place. If governments confined themselves to protecting people’s natural rights, à la John Locke, they could operate with a tiny fraction of the money and personnel they now command.

Read the rest at The Beacon here.

Robert Higgs

Robert Higgs is Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute, author or editor of over fourteen Independent books, and Editor at Large of Independent’s quarterly journal The Independent Review.

View all posts

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

Podcasts

scotthortonshow logosq

coi banner sq2@0.5x

liberty weekly thumbnail

Don't Tread on Anyone Logo

313x0w (1)

313x0w (1)

313x0w (1)

Our Books

Recent Articles

Recent

Inflation is Class Warfare Against the Poor

Inflation is Class Warfare Against the Poor

If you were to double the money in circulation instantly, society as a whole would be no richer. Printing more zeros on the currency does nothing to produce more of the necessities and luxuries of life. But wage earners would see the purchasing power of their wages...

read more
TGIF: The Capitalist-Socialist Asymmetry

TGIF: The Capitalist-Socialist Asymmetry

Free-marketeers have long pointed out a particular asymmetry between capitalism and socialism (whether of the international or national variety). While anyone in a capitalist society would have a right to engage in socialism (as anyone can do now in our hampered...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This