How To Get Rid Of Cronyism

By Chris Rossini​

There are a lot of fairy tales being told in this election cycle, which is par for the course. We're hearing about "corporate greed," "billionaires" and "the billionaire class". In other words, if you're struggling, you're free to use people with money as a scapegoat. How did they get their money? Doesn't matter. It's very simplistic and very easy. Hence, a major reason why politicians resort to class warfare. 

Politicians are a major part of the cronyism problem that this country faces. Ironically, people look to politicians for answers, and of course, the answers never come. But if wealthy cronies are buying off politicians, are not the politicians themselves taking the money? Aren't they just the other side of the coin?

Ahh...but you're supposed to ignore the "greed" of politicians. Your focus should only be on the greed of those who are buying them off. Politicians are the "public servants". Isn't that what the government schoolbooks say?

Let's ask a few important questions with regards to cronyism. First, why do wealthy cronies buy off the politicians? Why not the poor ones? Well, if you have little or no money, you're not bribing anyone. That's why politicians don't have their hands out in front of people with no money. If you're going to be bought off, you put your empty hand in front of the guy with the bucks! The people without the bucks are only good for votes, and you can say just about anything you want to garner votes. Just promise free stuff. That usually does the trick.

Next, since the wealthy cronies are the ones doing the bribing, what do they gain? We have to assume that they're not just throwing away money for no reason. Well, there are several answers to this one. Some pay off politicians simply so that the politicians will leave them alone. The U.S. government is the largest government in the world you know. American politicians believe that everything under the sun is under their jurisdiction. The wealthy are in a position to buy their freedom.

Now, if you're poor, you can't pay off the government to leave you alone. The government will continually try to micromanage your life until your every move is under their thumb. You have no capital with which to keep them at bay.

Wealthy cronies also bribe politicians for special treatment. There are monopoly privileges that are bought. Welfare and taxpayer bailouts are purchased as well.

There are exclusive contracts, subsidies, and laws to protect yourself from upstart competition. Licensing laws fall into that category. Have you noticed that you need a license for almost everything in the "land of the free"? Those are not there "to protect the consumer" as the government schoolbooks say. They're there to protect entrenched and crony corporations from competition.

So we see two big incentives for buying off politicians: (A) to get them off your back, and (B) to get special treatment.

There is a cure for the cronyism disease, and it's one that you'll never (ever) hear from the likes of Bernie Sanders. Are you ready for it? Here it comes in bold letters:

Remove the non-constitutional powers that politicians wield.

We are so far away from the U.S. Constitution....So very far. But even a single step back in that direction is better than nothing. Right now just about every step is away from it. It's been that way for at least a hundred years.

But the bigger and more powerful the government, the larger the price tag in influencing it.

Billionaires would not lobby a politician that will (A) leave him alone, and (B) do nothing special for him. What would there be to bribe? Such a politician is useless for cronyism, but invaluable to freedom and liberty.

This simple solution is just too much for many people to handle because they've been conditioned to fear freedom. Those government schoolbooks really did a number on people.

But stripping politicians of their non-constitutional powers is the only solution that can work.

A politician without the powers to harass, or "help", is a politician that's not worth bribing.