The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

? A candidate came
home to give his wife
the glorious news:
“Darling, I have been
elected.”
She was delighted.
“Honestly?” she
said.
He laughed in an
embarrassed way.
“Oh, why bring that
up?”
Chapter 11 • Power Sale
(getting one’s snout in the public trough) are
a sordid part of legislation. “Pork barrel”
originates from the term “bringing home the
bacon”— bacon being the government money
spent on close allies in the home district. Thus,
Parliament is the pork barrel from which this
bacon comes. It means “favours for pals” and
contracts for relatives. Small costs are taken from
a large group of individuals and the benefi ts are
concentrated on the members of a small group.
Many people have proposed changing the
system of campaign fi nance to curb the bribery.
However, politicians are usually clever enough
to work their way around such reforms because
it is these very politicians who craft the laws.
People work hard to gain freedom from
oppression, but it takes a great vigilance
to prevent a nation from slipping back into
oppression. Within a short period people might
ask “What, then, was the point of all the years
of struggle?”
References
The Incredible Bread Machine by R.W. Grant,
discusses the history and power of politics.
The Government Racket 2000, by Martin
Gross.
Why Government Doesn’t Work, by Harry
Browne.
Some good links about campaign fi nance
reform are “Get Politics Out of Money!” by
Robert W. Tracinski at: http://www.aynrand.org
/medialink/fi nance.shtml.
The comparative size of governments around
the world may be viewed at:
http://www.freetheworld.com/release.html
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