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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (9128)	12/17/2010 7:02:29 AM
From: Lane3	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

I would venture to say the points at which we know longer feel genuinely represented as individuals are the points at which something is being reaped, and the reaping has been going on for so long it probably does not even feel wrong to most people anymore. I think we're talking about two different reaps and two different reapers. It seems like your reapers are the politicians and your prizes are the campaign contributions, bribes and the like. That was not what I had in mind so let me clarify what I meant by "If there were fewer prizes to be reaped from lobbying the government, there would be less lobbying action." My prizes are the those garnered from the government, the contracts, leases, entitlements, grants, tax loopholes, tax expenditures, regulatory advantages, etc. and my reapers are those who seek influence both to get a bigger share of those prizes and to get the government to increase the available supply of those prizes. To solve a problem you have to get to the root of the problem. You have to drill down amidst the clutter to find the essence of the problem. It is easy to mistake some symptom for the problem. Or something that correlates with the problem. So, we attack those and then wonder why we haven't solved the problem. Something like trying to control campaign funding or the integrity of politicians isn't going to solve the problem. At best it can mitigate a symptom of the problem. The underlying problem in this case is that the government controls so much of the economic opportunity. People, including business people, interest groups, and ordinary citizens gather on the steps of the Capitol just as critters of all sorts congregate around a watering hole. People are creative. If there is money to be made by accessing that money tree, they will find ways, legal and otherwise, to gain access and increase their share of the prizes. It's like the flow of water. You can't stop it. You can change its path but you can't stop it unless you dry up the water. I submit that the only true cure is to reduce the proportion of the economy that runs through the government. If there are fewer and smaller prizes, you remove the value of politicians as potential distributors, access loses value, so gaining access is no longer a career or business opportunity. As long as there are big prizes, there will be a big market for access and influence.