I applaud the passion of the “NH Rebellion Movement,” but like many things based on political chic, it is attempting to address the symptom, not the cause.
NH Rebellion seeks to get money out of politics and, no doubt, is steeped in the cultural zeitgeist against “the corporations” having influence on “our political process.” This, of course, misses the point, and it refuses to ask the question:
Why is there so much money in politics?
The answer is that money is in politics because power is in politics. When it is more cost effective to lobby for legal benefit than it is to improve your products or services, there is no other logical choice. Businesses, unions, countries, and individuals lobby the government for benefit because that is what is effective, and it is effective because that is the world that progressive/authoritarian policies create (and not without purpose).
If the NH Rebellion movement were truly genuine, they would not be protesting money in politics, which is no more useful than protesting a runny nose when you have a cold brought on by overexertion. They would be protesting the very idea of political solutions themselves, and joining the growing population of those who acknowledge that such things are inherently corrupt, that only voluntary interactions between individuals and local government that has accountability are the way to end corruption that is inherent to the system we have chosen.
This LTE was submitted by Jason Walls to the Portsmouth Herald on July 1, 2014.
