Buying Unfair Influence

Published January 31, 2011 in Short Answers by Mary Ruwart

Question

How would a libertarian society prevent rich people and corporations from influencing the decisions of politicians, judges, and police in their favor?

Answer

The only sure way to prevent the rich from buying unfair government influence is to stop allowing government to use physical force against peaceful people. Whenever government is allowed to favor one group over another, the rich will always win, since they can "buy" more favors, overtly or covertly, than the poor.

For example, when Bell Telephone's patents ran out, it lobbied local governments to give a monopoly to a single telephone provider. At that point in time, Bell had only 50% of the telephone business, but it was the single biggest company. The smaller firms provided service that was less extensive, but also less expensive. Many people chose this option after Bell's patents ran out.

By making local governments choose a single telephone provider, Bell eliminated its competition. Bell used its deep pockets to lobby government officials to stop other telephone providers -- at gunpoint, if necessary -- from giving service to willing customers. Eventually Bell, which became AT&T, lost its long distance monopoly -- and costs to consumers plummeted.

The cable TV industry has also gained local monopolies. Although no service provider is quite as large as Bell (AT&T) used to be, consumers pay more for cable TV than they need to, because competition has been eliminated by government decree.

Big government makes the rich become richer, at the expense of the poor. Consequently, the more socialist the government, the wider the income gap between these two groups. Lady Liberty, not Big Brother, is the true champion of the "little guy."

Read more of Dr. Mary Ruwart's responces to tough questions in her book Short Answers to the Tough Questions.