Buying Politicians
The political scene in the United States of America is fraught with the buying and selling of political power, and politicians themselves.

The system is what is truly at fault though, as human beings can only react as well as their circumstances and nature allow. In other words, if you put a steak in front of a starving man, and tell him not to eat it, well... Don't hold out much hope for that steak sticking around.

If human beings are corruptible by nature, the solution does not lie in electing a better politician, but rather in fixing the system that elects them and rules on what they can and cannot do.

Part of the problem is that lobbying is allowed. Another part of the problem is that it's legal to give gifts and money to politicians, and politicians need money to get into office, and when re-election comes around, to stay in office.

If someone contributes money, they'll have influence proportional to the amount of money they contribute. Some have tried to restrict donations to a level that the average citizen can compete with - ie, no donations over what a well off person could manage, but there's always ways around that. The best and simplest solution is simply to make donations illegal, and to have campaigns funded by the state.


Another part of the problem is "Who do politicians listen to?". Lobbyists tend to be very good at chatting up politicians. How do you prevent lobbyists from having undue influence on politicians? If they can't buy them, they'll buy people who specialize in being friends with politicians, and politicians will suddenly have no lack of friends who have well thought out views on certain issues.

Joe Smith at home can't compete with that. Nor should he have to.

How to solve the second of these two problems, I don't know yet. I'm going to be thinking about it though. It's time for a second American Revolution, a bloodless reform of a corrupted political system. Government doesn't have to suck. It can be better. It will be better.