JasonPye.com: End corruption, shrink government

David Boaz says the best way to limit corruption is to keep government small:

Cases like these remind us of the fundamental nature of politics. Blagojevich showed less intelligence and more vulgarity than most politicians, but trading taxpayer money for personal or political gain is the common coin of politicians. In his first post-indictment news conference, Blagojevich himself strongly hinted that he will defend himself with the notion that swapping appointments and favors is merely stock in trade for politicians of the upper echelon.

That leads to a virtually inescapable conclusion: The best way to limit such tawdry quid pro quo is to limit the power of politicians and of government.
[...]
FBI investigations and anti-bribery laws will never take the corruption out of politics. The best way to limit it is to keep government small, with few jobs to fill and limited money to spend.

Eliminating or limiting the incentive of politicians to be corrupt by shrinking government is the most effective way to have a clean up politics in Washington.

Comments

Smaller government will happen when?.... It will happen when politicians recognize they are to serve not be served and I think we all know that ain't gona happen.
Don

Posted by: Don | January 7, 2009 08:24 AM

Don, what if the politicians are representing the constituents of their district? Wouldn't they be serving?

Posted by: Jim Nichols | January 7, 2009 08:50 AM

Only if they are representing the INTEREST of those constituents of that district.
In my case raisings my property tax,adding additional tax,SPLOST,building,buying,expanding and taking more from me than they allow me to keep is not serving me...it is me serving them.

Jim if you honestly think the political arena is filled with those whose desire it is to serve then you are not and have not been affected as the majority of the American taxpayers have...
We, the average citizen that invests wisely, lives modestly and are what society considers responsible citizens have seen all we work for and have accumulated being taxed away from us and when we have given all we have the governments want more...
I can't speak for you but I would ask you this one question... have the services you recieve from the governments of our cities counties state and nation improved and been increased at the same rate as your taxes?
I do not believe that you can honestly say they have.
You are paying more and recieving less than anytime in the history of this country that is unless you are a politician or bueracrat appointed by the politician.
We have reached that point in society where sucess is punished and discouraged in the name of equality and fairness.. and that is being done by government...
I have worked hard during my life time and have enjoyed some sucess BUT now that the earning years are over and the income is less I can no longer afford to retain the posessions I worked so hard to acquire...
I have enjoyed the pleasure of owning Harley Davidson motorcycles and presently have my two for sale as the ad volorum tax I am required to pay just to keep them is almost 600.00 per year
I have enjoyed owning a Corvette for 17 years but those are also too expensive to tag because of the ad volorum tax which is almost 200.00 I guess the county feels I should pay because I worked hard and if I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor I should continue to pay even tho I have paid almost as much tax to keep my toys as I paid for them orginally...
I had a motor home and my wife,family and I really enjoyed the outings we had in it but that too was something the government felt I should have to pay them to own...never mind I no longer pay fuel bills,support the bus shop for mantinance and spend the money to mantain my bus... I'm sure the government knows better than I and is more efficent than I am at putting my money back into the economy... right..well the county may not be getting my 700.00 a year ad volorum tax but then neither are the service stations getting the 1000s of dollars a year we spent on fuel,oil,service,cleaning services, you know all those industries that actually do some for the economy...other than government waste..
I've seriously though about doing what I have seen so many of our ..."recent residents" do ...Put one of those "tag applied for" stickers on my window...seems to work for many ....I've seen the same truck at Frontera for over a year that still has the "tag applied for" on it...
When I have someone serving me it is usually to my advantage or at least a break even proposition. When someone says they are serving me and I continue to come out on the short end of the stick so to speak I generally will find some other person to serve me.

So no I do not think because a person holds an elected office that they serve the constituents of the district they are supposed to REPRESENT... that is the operative word...REPRESENT... I will agree that I am wrong if you can show to me the evidence that we were represented on just one of the recent Senate or House "bailouts". One piece of evidence that we were served by the money given to the auto makers...
How about any of those recently fired or I'm sure the government would say "leveled" in Henry County and know their salary will be used to help pay for yet another soccor mom hang out....
No Jim politicians are not there to serve or represent the will and wishes of the people they are there to be served and
force their will and wishes upon the people.
Sorry for the length but I wanted to give you first hand reasoning for my distrust and distaste for government.
Don

Posted by: Don | January 7, 2009 03:07 PM