During the bootlegger era, it was common for public officials to be quite openly on the take Is that the measure? That politicians have to be openly on the ta

During the bootlegger era, it was common for public officials to be quite openly on the take Is that the measure? That politicians have to be openly on the take for the modern citizen to be justified in distrusting authority? As with most of society, the corruption has better marketing today vs 80 or 90 years ago. Why take an open bribe when it's so easy to funnel money to family and contributors through the passing of bills that include earmarks for them? now is that trust has been eroded in institutions We've had the better part of a century to watch as one big program after another has been implemented, limped along sucking more and more money, and now is doomed to failure unless yet more money is thrown after them: Medicare, Social Security, etc. We've watched the government go to war against poverty and drugs yet fail to move the needle. We've watched as everything the government gets involved in: public school, health care, student loans, home loans, etc. fails in fundamental ways without ever being scrapped or replaced with something better. Today, even subsidies draw strong attack ... but then nothing really ever happens about them, or they're shuffled around. [4] People will contest this, but Government expenditures != amount and effect of regulation.