In short, we have come to believe the problem in Washington is a sort of legalized bribery. If outside interests can only be held at bay, we can and will get better leadership.

But what if we are wrong? What if the problem is not bribery . . . but extortion? What if the Permanent Political Class in Washington, made up of individuals from both political parties, is using its coercive public power to not only stay in office but to threaten others and to extract wealth, and in the bargain pick up private benefits for themselves, their friends, and their families?

What we often think of as the bribery of our national leaders by powerful special interests in Washington may actually make more sense understood as extortion by government officials—elected and unelected. Far from being passive recipients of money and favors, they make it happen. They leverage their positions to shake the money tree for themselves and their political allies. And as we will see, they do so using a variety of methods, many of which you probably have never heard of before.

The assumption is that we need to protect politicians from outside influences. But how about protecting ourselves from the politicians?

Excerpt From: Schweizer, Peter. “Extortion.” Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (www.hmhco.com). iBooks.

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HKO

The concern about money and politics is worthy. But the fixation on billionaires with influence, whether it is the Kochs or Soros, is aimed at the wrong target. The larger problem is the corruption of the political class who rigs the game to extort payments from those who can pay.

Once the government justifies its intrusion into every aspect of our commercial and private lives there is too much temptation from morally weak elected leaders to leverage this power into financial gain. Gridlock and temporary measures serve the financial objectives of the perpetual campaign.

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