Big Government Leads to Corrupt Government

John Stossel has a good article on Townhall today on Blagoevich, the bailout, and public choice theory

The Public Choice economists remind us that contrary to what the civics textbooks imply, public "servants" have the same ambitions as the rest of us --wealth, career, influence, prestige. But there's a big difference between us and them. Politicians, bureaucrats and the people they "rescue" get money through force -- taxation. Don't think taxation is force? Try not paying, and see what happens. ...

Even someone devoted to achieving the public good is ignorant of what is truly in the interest of a group of individuals as large and diverse as the population of a state or country. Lacking that knowledge -- and with his political cronies and the most politically connected lobbies constantly whispering in his ear -- he will presume that what is good for the best -- organized interest groups -- must be good for everyone. Then he will take from all of us to bail out those special interests. This will tend to be good for the politician's career.

Blagojevich allegedly assumed someone would be willing to pay dearly to be a U.S. senator. I'm sure he was right. But if government were less important in our lives, politicians would have fewer goodies to trade. In return, we'd have more money and more freedom.

That's one more reason to limit government power.