November 1, 2026
By Stephen Stofka
For the past few weeks, I have looked at the boundaries between individuals and government. We often think of government as a set of institutions ordered by a regime of laws, values and principles. Yes, government is an apparatus, but it is peopled by individuals who act within the influence of that culture, that regime. They are not automatons or puppets subject to the manipulation of masters behind the curtain. They act with intention.
Poor Governance
People have long expressed a lack of confidence in Congress. Gallup has long sampled Congressional approval among Americans. Only during the late 1990s and early 2000s did Congressional approval rise above 50%. Recently, Gallup’s results have reached all time lows near 10% approval (Source).
In The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State, Jill Lepore notes that “nearly two in five people surveyed across seventy countries agree with the statement, ‘AI could make better decisions on my behalf than my government representatives’” (p. 8). People worry about poor governance compounded by corruption.
A Government by the People
At the dedication ceremony following the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War, Lincoln wrote “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Source). He delivered that speech before the passage of the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal protection to all persons within the country (Source). In 1886, a note in a Supreme Court case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court recognized a limited personhood for corporations. Roscoe Conkling, the lawyer for Southern Pacific, informed the justices that the 14th Amendment’s definition of “persons” included corporations.
Conkling had served as a Representative, a Senator and had turned down a nomination to be on the Supreme Court. Having been one of the drafters of the 14th Amendment, the justices on the court took him at his word. He may have been lying to serve the best interests of his client, the railroad (Source). He did not recognize the right of judicial review, that the court had the final say on an issue, so he might have excused his falsehood (Source).
In 1978, a divided court held that corporations had a First Amendment right to spend money on state ballot issues. In the 2010 Citizens United case, the court narrowly decided that corporations could spend money on candidates as well as issues, and at all levels (Source). Today, people feel that we do not have government by the people, nor for the people. We have government by big corporations, for big corporations. A well-intentioned falsehood in an 1886 case may have opened the door for rule by a corporate oligarchy. The process certainly invites corruption.
Corruption
Lord Acton was a 19th century English politician, writer and historian who penned the often quoted observation, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Source). Corruption is the use of a public institution for private gain. Individuals divert public benefits and funding to themselves, their family and friends. Congress is a good example. Why do members of Congress amass such fortunes within a decade of being elected?
Jonathan Klick, a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, examined the growth in wealth of members of the House in the decade 2004-2014. Their average wealth grew seven times that of the top 5% of Americans on the income ladder. How did they outperform a lot of smart and talented people? Because House members are not required to reveal many details, Klick did not presume to explain the causes of that growth. Test takers achieve such extraordinary results by having access to the answers, hiring someone talented and knowledgeable to take the test, or having the ability to change the reported results. We can presume that there is some factor that gives members of Congress a financial edge.
The Role of Government
In third world countries with a weak private sector, government jobs offer people a chance at a middle class lifestyle. Winning candidates secure jobs for their family and friends. The purpose of government is to serve those in power who use government institutions to stay in power. It is a far cry from Lincoln’s vision as he articulated in the Gettysburg Address, but it was standard practice in 19th century America.
When President Andrew Jackson took office in 1829, he embraced the system of patronage and elevated it to a noble philosophy. He believed in a spoils system that, much like some third world countries today, reward the majority with jobs and benefits (Source).
Early in the course of the Civil War, the Union Army was plagued by a corrupt supply chain that sold inferior uniforms and horses to the army at exorbitant profits. In The First Tycoon, a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, T.J. Stiles recounts when President Lincoln approached Vanderbilt, a man known for getting things done, and offered him the post of Secretary of the Army. Vanderbilt turned down the position but did procure better quality goods at a fair price. Later, Vanderbilt chanced his fortune against the powerful Tammany Hall political machine that controlled rail transport in New York. Despite massive corruption and stock market manipulation by the machine, Vanderbilt busted the political monopoly that exercised an iron control on rail construction and access.
Private Property
A cornerstone of liberal democracy is the concept of private property. In 17th century Britain, a civil war erupted between monarchists, those loyal to the king and the power of the king, and Parliamentarians, those loyal to the Parliament as representatives of the people’s will. Robert Filmer, a noted monarchist, argued that the right to property comes from God through the King. John Locke argued that the right to property comes directly from God. When God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, He told the couple they would have to work the land for their survival. Therefore, those who cultivate the land add value to the land and “thereby makes it his property” (PDF link, p. 116). The state merely recognizes that title.
In later centuries, the American colonists used this reasoning to deny that Indians had any right to the land since they did not improve it. In the plains states, 19th century settlers sometimes squatted on land in the hopes that the government would take the land from the Indians and sell it to settlers at a cheap price. Sometimes it did, sometimes not.
To encourage western expansion, railroads were given vast tracts of land in the plains and western states, and most of it was Indian land as acknowledged in earlier treaties. When the railroads were done building, they sold to the settlers at rates that were many times what the railroads had paid for the land. The Ingalls family, of Little House on the Prairie fame, were squatters on Osage Indian land in the Kansas territory. When the government did not follow through, the Ingalls had to move (Source).
In South Dakota, the Sioux Indians were not so lucky. In 1868, the Treaty of Fort Laramie set aside portions of South Dakota, Montana and Nebraska as a Sioux reservation inhabited by several Indian tribes. Six years later, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A rush of prospectors overwhelmed Indian resistance and feeble government attempts to thwart the rush.
A country preserves its sovereignty by retaining the right to all land within its borders. Throughout the western states, the federal government claims ownership of most of the land, then leases it out for ranching and mining. The Fifth Amendment acknowledges the concept of private property when it states, “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” There must be an exchange. However, the amendment assumes that any taking of property by government is for “public use.” The country’s history is a litany of takings for private gain supposedly in advancement of a public cause like western expansion.
Conclusion
Knowing that government institutions are not made of pure virtue and run by people with a keen interest in their own self-interest, Libertarians have long sought to curb the scope of government. Next week I will explore the consequential people who are devoted to the Libertarian cause. Hope to see you then.
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Photo by The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Unsplash
