url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/Holcombe_Cronyism_web

advantage. 3 We cannot evaluate economic and political
systems under the assumption that those who hold
power are omniscient, benevolent despots. Political and
economic systems should be evaluated under the assumption
that people who hold power will abuse it for their
own benefit. Although not everyone is prone to commit
such abuses, some people are, so political and economic
institutions should be designed to guard against the possibility
that the worst will get on top. 4
People have designed many political and economic
systems based on sophisticated analyses of social interactions
that point to ways that society might be redesigned
and improved. Fundamentally, however, all systems
rest on either the principle that people control their
own lives and property or the principle that some people
should control the lives and property of others. The latter
principle inevitably leads to a system in which the people
who have connections to those with control benefit at the
expense of those who do not. Despite sophisticated terminology
and justifications, the choices reduce to liberalism
versus cronyism.
CRONYISM AND BIG GOVERNMENT 105