Corruption, Lobbying, and government

I hear people complaining about corruption in government, and in the next sentence the person will say "I wish that government would do __________________."

People don't seem to understand that corruption goes hand in hand with power. The more power that the government has and the more laws that are passed then the more corruption there will be.

The same goes for lobbyists. Folks complain about lobbyists like they are a plague or something. Then they'll turn around and say "I want the government to pay for ______________________" or "I want the government to require _______________________."

Well, buddy, the "green" cars that you want the government to mandate have a ton of lobbyists attached to them.

Socialized medicine? Another ton of lobbyists.

Every new thing that government at any level gets involved in brings more lobbyists. If you want to reduce the number of lobbyists then reduce the size and power of the government. If you want to reduce corruption then reduce the size and power of government.

Can you imagine the level of corruption and the number of lobbyists that we have today if the government was the size it was back in 1800? Both existed then, but not at the levels we have today. Why? Because POWER is the payoff. Lobbyists are there because of POWER. Corruption exists because people want POWER.

Reduce the power of government and you will reduce the number of people trying to control that power and get benefits from it.

All of this ignores the media and the attempts of those in the media to wield power. The way you present the news is a form of lobbying that many people deny even exists. I hope the loss of circulation and financial problems newspapers are having is because more people are starting to recognize that influence and react to it. The same goes for CNN.