The Power Market

    Corruption, graft, fraud – these are all features we’ve come to associate with so-called “crony capitalism”. From the Enron disaster to the Haliburton sweetheart deals, it seems as though graft and corruption are running rampant. And most disturbing is that our own political leaders appear to be involved on some level. But what do we do? What can we do to stop this when those supposedly enforcing the laws appear to have little regard for the law?

    As the phrase “crony capitalism” implies, much of this problem can be traced back to instances where certain individuals and entities were afforded special “favors” from their friends in the government, in return for other favors of some kind or another – such as campaign donations, etc. But what is the root cause of this problem? While it has practically been accepted as a definitive characteristic of politicians to be dishonest and prone to what we will diplomatically refer to as “influence”, the question remains, if this is such an inherent trait to politicians, what can we do to stop, or at least curb this? After all, as much as we may want to, we cannot live without politicians of one kind or another. At some level, bureaucracy must exist. So are we doomed to live with the inherent flaws of having human politicians?

    Fortunately, the answer is no.

Political Power is a Commodity
    Since we’ve established that politicians, in general, being human as they are, are susceptible to “influence” and therefore corruption, and since this is not a feature of human nature we can eliminate without eliminating the humanity of the politician, we must find a way to contain, or “defang” the politician, rendering his flawed human nature harmless. “How can we do that”, you ask? The answer is by recognizing the existence of, and subsequently eliminating the “Power Market”.

    What is the Power Market? It is the hypothetical place where political power, wielded by the hand of the politician, is traded like a commodity in exchange for other commodities. Where does this market exist? Everywhere and nowhere. But we can see its stock in trade everywhere we look. It’s easy to spot if you know what to look for. You can see where such trades have taken place by looking at the payment doled out by the politicians. This payment takes the form of things such as corporate welfare, subsidies, protected monopolies, and special rules and exemptions intended to give one group an advantage over others, among other things.

The Vulnerability of All Political Systems
    So the question naturally follows, if the Power Market is the source of the corruption, can it be defeated by moving away from a system of trade to some other political/economic system? If history is any guide, the answer is no. Political systems of all kinds have witnessed this problem to varying degrees, and the more authoritarian the system, the worse the problem – even in countries where market economies were virtually banned.
    We thus see that attempts to restrict the trade of the Power commodity have been futile. So we must take another approach: If we cannot restrict trade of this commodity, let us ban the commodity altogether!

The Solution of the Leashed Legislator
    The way to eliminate the trade of political power for favors is by eradicating the commodity itself. The answer to the question of how to keep a business interest from “buying” political influence is by making it so there is nothing to buy. The answer to the question of how to keep politicians from “selling out” is by giving them nothing to sell. By this means we can drain the Power Market of its lifeblood.
    Would this mean the politician is utterly powerless? Certainly not. After all, what would be the purpose of a powerless politician? But if we can strictly limit their power to only those proper functions of their position – that is, of securing and protecting our rights – then we will have little fear that they will sell “favors”. After all, the only “favor” they could extend would be that of protecting one’s rights.

    In addition to eliminating business influence in politics, and political influence in business, the adoption of the above we would likely also see a decrease in the amount of corporate corruption overall since these corporations would be left to make profits only through their own productivity and not through any favors or exceptions extended to them. But whenever the path of least resistance is to use political power (the power to use force) to gain values; whenever that Pandora’s Box of a tool exists to be wielded by the unscrupulous to gain advantages, corruption is inevitable – both in business and in government alike.