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From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: corruption a non-word: accountability in Govt.
Message-ID: <535@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-Mar-85 14:24:54 EST
Article-I.D.: whuxl.535
Posted: Thu Mar 21 14:24:54 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Mar-85 02:40:28 EST
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> []
> Another question:
>   Do libertarian dictionaries contain the word "corruption?"
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 	No.
> 
> 	Corruption is a government activity. 
> 	If McDonalds wants to adulterate the hamburger with saw-dust,
> and/or charge $75 for a Big Mac, this is bad business not corruption. 
> (The market place keeps them from such "corrupt practices".)
> 	As there is no market place in the "government services business" 
> we can't call government stupidity "bad business" so we call it CORRUPTION.
> 						danw

There certainly *is* a marketplace in government services:
it's called "elections".  If you think the government is corrupt then
you have a choice every election: throw the rascals out of office.
If you think that government is intruding where it should not then
vote for government officials that will lessen such intrusion.
As long as there is a democratic system that allows various political
groups to compete then there certainly *is* both a marketplace in
government services and accountability in some sense.
I realize that this use of the term "marketplace" is not precisely the
same as its use in economic theory. To be most precise I suppose one could
label it a market in "government officials" rather than "government services".
Voting for the government officials is assumed to result in differing
approaches to government and the provision of government services.  While
this is not always true, it is true to some extent.
 
It is simply ridiculous to claim that businesses are never either corrupt
or downright criminal.  If McDonald's takes to adding arsenic to people's
hamburgers rather than sawdust then not only is this activity corrupt,
I would say it is outright criminal.  Perhaps it is "bad business" and
perhaps it is not.  But it is definitely immoral and criminal to the same
degree murder is.
                 tim sevener  whuxl!orb