In yesterday's article, I described in some detail what we all know to be true; that American politics has become an auction of privileges to the highest bidders. The privileges being sold take many forms. It may involve insuring that winning bidders receive tax money in the form of grants or lucrative contracts. It may include legislation that gives one industry a competitive advantage over another. It can take the form of tariffs on imported goods that allow an inefficient local industry to stay afloat, resulting in higher prices for all of us. It can be as petty as allowing a wealthy contributor to be buried in a national cemetery, or to sleep in the White House.

What is unique about this auction of favors is that there is no limit to the number of potential favors. It is a never-ending auction, and bidders must re-bid frequently to maintain their privileges. Competing bidders can ALL be granted privileges, even privileges that offset each other. Each person... each organization is thus faced with contradictory results... some results that benefit, some that handicap... and are forced, to keep from being overwhelmed by interests contrary to theirs, to join in paying tribute to those who have the power to grant or deny favors.

It's an ugly system in so many ways. It benefits the "haves" at the expense of all others. It twists our economy by granting advantage to those who don't earn or deserve it, at the expense of those who would otherwise earn it. It creates a morass of law and regulation that requires special expertise just to wade through, thus placing those without such expertise in jeopardy of unknowingly becoming criminal.

Patronage results in the big becoming bigger, because they can afford the expertise to tiptoe through the swamp more effectively than their smaller competitors. Special-interest politics is a cutthroat business in which money buys power and unfair advantage. Special-interest politics is practiced as an art by both the Democratic and Republican parties.

The two major parties have transformed a nation founded on equal opportunity for all into a grimy, convoluted, deal-making quagmire of favoritism that benefits nobody except those with the power to grant favors... those two parties and their insiders.

The irony is that most Americans do not SEEK any special privileges... we just want the equality of opportunity promised to us when our nation was created. I've met precious few people who believe they have a right to have a preference their neighbors don't have, but I've met many who will enjoy those privileges gained by being part of some special interest group. The privileges come without asking, become expected and appreciated, and allow us to accept them without considering those who don't get them.

You may have noticed that the Libertarian Party and its candidates never have an impressive list of big donors like the Democrats and Republicans. Big corporations, unions, and other special-interest groups do not flood libertarian coffers with campaign contributions. We should carefully consider why they do contribute to the D's or R's but don't contribute to other parties.

To be blunt, the Democratic and Republican parties thrive on special-interest money while the Libertarians offer nothing in return for such contributions... not even verbal support. Libertarians promote NO special interests; our guiding principles oppose special interests of any kind. If Libertarians had a large majority in Congress, it would do no good for a special-interest group to try to buy favoritism from them. The answer would still be "no legislating for special interests". Every special interest seeks to gain something at the expense of others, and that is simply wrong.

Did I say wrong? Did you notice how alien that judgment is, in political terms? We've become accustomed to listening to long rationalizations used to justify political actions. We listen to unending justifications for public money being spent... describing the benefits of an action while ignoring the many costs and unavoidable consequences. The ultimate in special-interest money, perhaps not in terms of destructiveness, but certainly in ridiculousness, are the regular "pork" projects sold by legislators.

In just the 3rd article I wrote for No Force, No Fraud, I likened our current government to the "mob" of the 20's, quoting Jefferson:

"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

Libertarians couldn't agree more. It's wrong, and each one of us is being violated. Worse... we've been bamboozled into thinking we couldn't survive without our current "mob". Fact is, we didn't need the mob in the Roaring 20's, and we don't need them now.

Special-interest politics will eventually destroy everything that was great about America. It's the politics of power.  As long as it continues, government will continue to balloon in size and cost, and the powerful, corrupt, and greedy will continue to dominate our society. We will continue to see government actions that confound and anger us.

Regrettably, there is only ONE solution, and that is to wrest control from the two corrupt parties that thrive on special-interest politics. As long as they have the power, they will use it, in increasingly corrupt ways. The enemy is not not big corporations, nor is it big unions... the enemy is our own government as run by two complicit parties. The solution is not to join in the special-interest battle, but to eliminate it. I know of only one way for that to occur, short of a physical revolution by the citizenry. That way is for all individuals who despise special-interest politics to join libertarians in a peaceful attempt to overthrow those who would sell privilege to the highest bidders.