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Trivia Tidbit of the Day: Part 531 -- Bailout Recipients Continue Political Contributions.

Kickbacks For Voting "Correctly"-

Bailouts are a good political fundraising tool, apparently:

Lawmakers said the federal bailout program, which was passed Oct. 3, would help banks keep credit moving in the market to help Americans buy homes and cars.

But within weeks, money also was moving into their campaign accounts.

JPMorgan's employee PAC, for instance, has issued $275,552 in political donations since Oct. 16, including $91,000 spent three weeks after the bailout was approved.

Wells Fargo & Co.'s employee PAC has approved $211,400 in political donations. Bank of America's PAC issued another $304,265.

It should be stressed that these political donations are from the PACs of these companies-- the money comes voluntarily from individuals who work at these companies. Donations given and taken in a vacuum by themselves are not evidence of anything nefarious. HOWEVER, this is a great example of how a more expansive government necessarily leads to corruption at the worst and the appearance of conflicts of interest at best.

When government grows, individuals and organizations are compelled to contribute more in order to gain access to lawmakers and protect their interests from uninformed whims and populist showboating. When government is playing an active role in confiscating, regulating, and redistributing wealth, a rent-seeking bailout mentality necessarily takes hold. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. When government is small and limited, it's in the background-- an afterthought. Limited government limits the opportunities for corruption and curtails the need to lobby.

And speaking of lobbying, didn't Democrats win in 2006 primarily on the "culture of corruption" issue?

Under Democrat control, we now have an explosion in the lobbying industry in Washington, DC:

We also have a litany of anecdotal stories of Democrat corruption that is far more broad and deep than anything people revolted against in 2006.

Democrats right now are drunk with power. They are reckless. If we can just eject brand-tainting elected officials (Senators Collins, Snowe, and Specter, for example) from the party, Republicans have a very real opportunity to regain power very soon.

Unfortunately, the massive expansion of government we're currently witnessing is likely creating new handout/bailout addicts as we speak. The growth of dependency culture in America may very well lead to a lengthy generation of Democrat electoral dominance. Policies have consequences. Nearly every single policy coming out of Congress right now is designed not to grow the economy but to grow the Democratic Party.

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Posted by Will Franklin · 11 February 2009 10:36 AM

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