Quote Of The Day....

I contend that reducing the role of money of politics in order to make politics more honest is like trying to make airplanes safer by reducing the role of gravity. Let's get money out of politics by making politicians less powerful.

-Cafe Hayek blog

The post here. Money in politics mostly refers to campaign contributions but I also argue that more importantly it is the money that politicians have at their disposal from taxes intended for their prosecution of public policy.

I am not a fan of campaign finance laws as they currently stand and am not a fan of McCain-Feingold campaign laws. I think that freedom of speech and supporting candidates that one likes trumps some kind of hypothesis that reducing campaign gifts reduces influence. Some people argue that there should be limits to influence in politics associated with monetary support for a candidate. I argue that as long as the government takes responsibility for distributing multiple trillions of dollars annually, it is natural that people try to influence those decisions.

I argue that governments should not be redistributing wealth despite designs on good intentions since it is not something that governments do well. Governments tend to redistribute wealth to the benefit of politicians and not necessarily for the benefit of people. Besides, how do bureaucrats in Washington know what people really need? And do these needs meet the hurdle that it is only government that can solve these problems and that it is int he best interest of all Americans to have a public policy solution to these perceive problems? I argue that we should seek to eliminate the role of government in healthcare, retirement and a host of other things that governments do not do well.