Speaking on the environmental disaster that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has become, President Obama blasted the "cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill" and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the spill a "collective responsibility", admitting of his regulatory body that "[w]e need to clean up that house" in an Associated Press article headlined "Interior secretary acknowledges lax oil regulation".  Interestingly, the quote from President Obama cited above was headlined "Obama assails oil industry's 'cozy relationship' with government".  Implied:  any cozy relationship between government and big corporations —whether petroleum companies or Wall Street firms, another favorite target of late — is the fault only of the business, not of the government claiming to hold them responsible for following the law.

It seems that the more information is uncovered about that "cozy relationship" between government and business, the more there is to question what we see.  Countrywide Financial offered special mortgage deals to former Fannie Mae executives and Senators involved in writing financial regulation, including Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND); Sen. Conrad was named as Time magazine's "10 Best Senators" in 2006.  Whether it is Jack Abramoff and his mostly Republican cohorts , or an alleged romantic relationship between Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and a Fannie Mae executive, or Archer Daniels Midland and corporate welfare , or the oil spill in the Gulf, the contagion goes deep and wide in our government.

It is beyond obvious to state that there is wide disagreement on to what extent our government should intrude on the economy and on the rights, liberties, and freedoms of our citizens and residents.  But where the government is involved, it is certainly not asking too much to expect our government not to be on the take from businesses big or small.  Politicians like to refer to themselves as "public servants" — just Google the term and you get over 2.5 million references — but serving the public shouldn't involve jumping into bed (figuratively or literally) with the very special interests seeking special favors and benefits at the cost of individual liberty and voluntary exchange.

All of this, particularly in the light of immense efforts of government expansion in terms of cap-and-trade, financial and health care "reform", economic "stimulus", and bailouts of Wall Street and Detroit automakers, begs the question:  why in the world would we trust politicians with even more power?  A famous quote attributed to Albert Einstein comes to mind:  "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."