Strange stories echoed newsweek It suggests that many people have never thought about how democratic politics works, or are confusing the politics they want with the politics they actually have. The magazine says “Donald Trump threatens new investigation,” May 11, 2024):
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, has threatened a new investigation into former President Donald Trump’s reported promises to Big Oil.
The Washington Post Republican presidential candidate Trump reported this week about an agreement he allegedly made to oil company executives at a dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month. He has raised $1 billion for his campaign to roll back dozens of President Joe Biden’s environmental regulations. People familiar with the dinner said they would block the new rules.
by postTrump said giving the $1 billion would be a “deal” because he wouldn’t have to worry about taxes or regulations if he was president, the sources said. …
“When you put these together, it starts to look deeply corrupt,” the White House said.
In reality, bribes, whether requested or offered, are fodder for politicians. They either promise political goods in return for some form of support, or they respond to interest group support with favorable interventions. Because these transactions represent political forms of economic exchange; Public Choice Theorists talk about “political markets.”
Joe Biden openly seeks the support of trade union organizations and union members in exchange for “worker-centered” policies. Perhaps Donald Trump is just more transparent. And while he plays the game on the side of various special interests, as a natural populist he also seeks to bribe workers with tariffs he imposes on consumers and importing companies. Qualification is required. Political bribery aimed at extending freedom of contract equally to all (not seen much these days) is not to be blamed. It is the system that creates this inevitability that should be blamed.
Political bribery also occurs when a politician offers a particular class of voters to support their interests, opinions, or feelings in exchange for support for his or her own interests in the perks of power. These are often the same thing. Bribes are at the heart of majoritarian politics. The impact on public and private ethics and the survival of a free society is insignificant.
The more powerful the state, the more widespread this legal corruption becomes. A defining feature of the classical liberal and libertarian tradition is its opposition to state power, whether democratic or not.
james buchananThe 1986 Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences proposed one of the solutions, the “Constitutional Political Economy”, developed on the foundations of public choice economics. This solution revolves around constitutional restrictions in everyday politics, precisely to prevent the negative-sum game of redistribution and exploitation of political losers by political winners. Buchanan and his collaborators argued that political exchange can be non-exploitative only at the level of constitutional rules that are unanimously accepted in a hypothetical social contract. At this level (the “constitutional level”), he argues, politics resembles economic exchange for the benefit of all. This is not exploitative, since anyone can theoretically veto a system of rules whose costs outweigh the benefits. for him. (his The limits of freedomhis ingenious calculation of consent With Gordon Tulloch. and his Reason for the rule With Jeffrey Brennan. The links are to reviews of these books. )
The most radical and destructive attack on majoritarian politics from an openly liberal perspective can be found in the work of another economist and political philosopher, Anthony de Jasay. The aptly titled book is one of them. against politics (link to my review).
For an overview of the main elements of liberal political philosophy in the 20th century, one could add Friedrich Hayek’s critique of majoritarian democracy. In pursuit of expediency (extensive cost-benefit analysis), democracy destroys the traditional rule of law that has produced a self-regulating social order. (See especially his stuff) rules and order and The mirage of social justice; link to my review. )
