Why Are Politicians and Government So Corrupt?

I’m the first one to point out how corrupt most of our politicians are. But at a certain point, we have to face the complete truth. In a democracy, which we still more or less are, people get the government they deserve. Why do we keep getting more and more corruption, in both parties?

The reason is because we give government too much money, and too much power. We tell the government to take huge portions of other people’s money, and to have a party with it. So what else can you expect?

I realize that most people rationalize it as, “Most of that money comes from the rich. They don’t need it.” But first of all, that’s not true. Tons of money comes from the middle class, and even the working poor when you’re talking about payroll taxes. Not to mention all the invisible taxes created by government regulations, including even minimum wage laws which keep many people unemployed and living off relatives or the government.

But regardless of where the money comes from, the fact remains: These politicians are spending other people’s money. Imagine yourself spending thousands of dollars of someone else’s money, money they were forced to give to you and they could never take back! Imagine if you were given billions or even trillions of dollars in other people’s money to spend, and then you’ve got the Congress and the President as we know them today.

Even if you’re honest and conscientious, how can you be expected to treat this “free” money in a thoroughly virtuous way? You’re told you’re entitled to it, you’re doing “good” with it, and by George, if they don’t like it, then that’s tough. Is this a recipe for moral virtue and high character, or is it by definition a recipe for corruption and deceit which, yes, Hillary Clinton epitomizes but is everywhere throughout Washington DC?

The reason we have so much corruption in government is because we have a government doing so much in the first place. The best — and ultimately only — way to resolve this problem is not simply by electing one person to “straighten it all out.” There is no straightening out the spending of other people’s money, not on this scale. The only way to resolve this problem is to stop giving the politicians in office all this money and power in the first place. If it’s too radical or scary to change this all at once, then at least stop giving them any more than we do, and start reversing course, in significant amounts. This means tax cuts, for sure, but much more than that it means monster spending cuts. And the more screams you hear from Washington DC’s power elite, the more you’ll know you’re on the right track.

Short of this, nothing else is going to work. Anything else will be a fantasy resulting in disappointment and demoralization. Keep this article, and reread it after November’s election, and after all the crises and calamities yet to come until or unless a majority of us, at least, start to face this fact.

Today the situation is getting worse. Not only do politicians spend other people’s money, but they also spend about $20 trillion (and counting) in money, profits, earnings and capital not yet created. Are you the parent of an infant or a toddler? Look at that little child. That’s who’s paying for these government spending projects. Or not even your child. It’s that infant’s child, or that infant’s grandchild. This is crazy!

Pointing out that politicians are corrupt and hopeless is neither depressing nor cynical. It’s simply the truth. And it’s a fact of reality, as well as a fact of human nature, that people given unearned power and money will not, on the whole, manage it with integrity. Why is this so complicated? America’s founders understood it back in 1776 and 1787 far better than anyone today. Why is it so much to ask the rest of us — who benefited from that wisdom — to understand it today?

Yes, we need a government. We need a federal government to smash ISIS and Islam (a political and military movement, not merely a religion) to pieces, just as that same federal government smashed the British, the Confederacy, the Nazis, the Japanese and ultimately the Soviets. And we need local and state governments to enforce contracts and punish theft, fraud, and criminal violence. Governments need some money for this, but not nearly the $20 trillion in debt it commands today. And we don’t need a government to be doing everything else it’s currently doing, and seeks to do even more as we keep granting it more and more unlimited and undefined power.

Get government out of the citizens’ lives, and the citizens will do just fine. The problem? A majority of citizens must learn to believe it. Until or unless that happens, nothing will change. Nothing.

 

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