Naivety

Here are a couple of things I hope I never come to disbelieve: “Cheaters never win, winners never cheat.,” and “Honesty is the best policy.” I realize these are a little old fashion but I still like them.

Another old fashion idea is that it is against the law to buy votes in the United States. It is against the law to buy them directly. To be successful at it you have to use a third party money laundering device. And the safest and most successful washing machine available is the US Government.

Here are a couple of recent examples , in my opinion, of vote buying. (I don't mean that the following things are wrong in themselves, just that the driving purpose behind them is suspect.)

1. During a time of deflation Congress passed and the President signed a 3.6% benefit increase for Social Security recipients. (I realize that there are many legitimate reasons behind this increase. I also realize that this group of Americans are active voters.)
2. Just last week President Obama was touting, on campuses across the US, his fight for lower interest rates on student loans. (Again, I realize there are a great many good reasons for these lower interest rates. But was this really anything thing more than an attempt to buy votes?)

Vote buying via the Washington machine goes the other direction too. In a previous blog I talked about the immense spending on Capitol Hill by lobby groups. What is a PAC or Super PAC but a way to massage money to the people, Representatives and Senators and Presidential candidates, who enact monetary laws?

It would be naive to believe that this behavior is something new in Washington. But is it naive to believe that it can be minimized? Probably, but I do plan on holding onto the possibility.

George W. Parker