Without power there can be no corruption
November 9, 2009 by Liberty For All
Filed under Humor
by Brian Irving
Just as predictable as the media’s “gotcha” coverage whenever a politician gets caught cheating or stealing is the inevitable call by political reform groups for more laws to prevent such abuse in the future and for “better” ways of financing campaigns. They ignore warning from our nations Founders’ who understood that the more corrupt a State the more it legislates.
More laws aren’t the answer to corruption because most of our current elected “leaders” bend, twist or simply ignore the law whenever it suits them. Witness all the “I don’t recall” and “I can’t remember” responses during the recent State Board of Elections hearing, or Governor Perdue’s response to the court-ordered release of convicts.
It’s pointless – and disingenuous – however to propose that forcing taxpayers to fund political campaigns they don’t agree with will promote honesty. Compelling anyone to pay for something they oppose is not just dishonest and corrupt, it is immoral.
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical,” as Thomas Jefferson put it.
Corruption stems not from lobbyists money but from taxpayer money. As long as government isn’t limited in what it can spend your money on there will always be people who will find a way to get the politicians to spend it on them.
Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” The corollary to this is that without power there can be no corruption for the politician has nothing to sell.
The absolute corruption of absolute power is evident in North Carolina government. Taxpayer-funded elections would only further strengthen the absolute power of the Democrat-Republican duopoly that wields on iron grip on state government by manipulating the law to favor supporters, reward cronies and thwart any third party or independent candidate who challenges that control.
Government is no longer about protecting individual liberty and promoting personal responsibility, it’s about “what’s in it for me” and “how much can I get.”
The framers of our nation’s Constitution understood that power corrupts, which is why they set up a government with specific and limited powers. As James Madison put it, “the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Modern political satirist P.J. O’Rouke put it another way: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
If you reduce government power and restore the concept of limited government our nation was founded on, you eliminate the opportunity for corruption. Of course, the major party duopoly is not interested in reducing their power. That is why North Carolina has the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation.
Any non-Demopublican or independent candidate must collect 80,000 or more signatures to qualify for the ballot. That takes time and money. Once they have climbed that mountain they can start running a campaign. That is, if they have not exhausted all their volunteers, resources and energy just getting to the starting line. It’s like asking an athlete to run a marathon before entering a 100 meter race.
Real campaign finance reform will begin at the ballot box when Libertarians, Greens, Constitution and independent candidates can challenge the two-party state in a race without first having to have run a marathon.
North Carolinians for Free and Proper Elections is a non-partisan state Political Action Committee dedicated to free, equal and proper elections in a state that has a history of restrictive ballot access laws.
Brian Irving is a board member and press secretary for North Carolinians for Free and Proper Elections. The retired U.S. Air Force captain lives in Cary.
