One common anxiety is the notion that businesses have a capacity to essentially buy the government outright and doing so corrupts our politics. Yet such a view seems to downplay the government’s own influence and the temptation derived from the perks of being in the good graces of those in Washington. Other times, businesses, even hugely successful ones like Google, feel they have to curry favor with government to stay in the game. It is a sad state of affairs when businesses feel that they cannot be successful through innovation alone, but that they must also rely on lobbying and political patronage. From The Washington Free Beacon:
“While Google is adept at the political game, it may be a reluctant participant, experts say. Like many tech companies, its initial aversion to a prominent D.C. presence became untenable as the federal government grew more involved in regulation of the technology sector.”