I like David Frum’s idea to forbid contributions from company officials in which the government has an ownership stake. I like even more Mark Levin’s idea prohibiting any contributions from people or entities receiving federal dollars. One of the key problems with a democratic government is preventing 51% of the country from coming together to screw the other 49%. I understand that there are games in which there is no equilibrium*, and this does prevent, to an extent, permanent extortion given appropriate circumstances, but people who make their livelihoods on governmental funding should not be able to pad their wallets by voting for an expansion of Leviathan (or switching out who feeds at the public trough). If that bill were to pass (which would never happen, unfortunately), I think Levin is right: there would be a lot less money in politics, just because so many people receive taxpayer money from the federal government. It would, however, clean things up much better than “campaign finance reform” bills.
* – One such example involves three individuals, A, B, and C, who each have an income of 5. A and B join forces to take C’s 5 away and split it 50-50. C then buys A off by promising A 3 of B’s 5 units. But then C double-crosses A and goes to B, offering to join forces against A and B will get 2 units. A, hearing about that, talks B into a 50/50 split of C’s income, and we’re back to the beginning.
