Political Corruption and Donations -- a Chicken and Egg Quandary 

I get continually frustrated with the continuous cries to stop the corruption of politics by "big business" and their money. I counter that money couldn't corrupt politics if politicians didn't sell favors granted by their ability to wield power over others.

Recently, from one of my favorite blogs: "... the usual conception of corruption is that it occurs when business corrupts government, in reality exactly the reverse is the case: persons who wield political power actively seek to sell the use of that power to persons who can enrich them. In point of fact, business cannot corrupt government, because the power to create privileges in the marketplace by an action of the State must exist and be 'advertised for sale' before it can be purchased."

These are not new thoughts. The earliest reference to this concept (that I could find) comes from Isabel Paterson (January 22, 1886 – January 10, 1961), a Canadian-American journalist, novelist, political philosopher, and a leading literary critic of her day.

Just something worth thinking about.