What we have today throughout the world is a mixed economy: a blend of intervention and freedom. You're exactly right that laissez-faire has never been fully tr

What we have today throughout the world is a mixed economy: a blend of intervention and freedom. You're exactly right that laissez-faire has never been fully tried: we've come close at various points and various places. There have been industries that were free of corruption and meddling even though the larger society was rife with corruption. I'm thinking of the Scottish banking system in the late eighteenth century because it was completely unregulated. Its example showed what laissez-faire might look like in that sector. Silicon Valley in the 80s, 90s, and 00s was similarly left alone. We all saw how it flourished and almost entirely stayed out of politics. The American constitutional system provides an excellent approach to limiting corruption through checks and balances and enumeration of powers. It has plenty of loopholes and those have been exploited from inception on.