"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." -P.J. O'RourkeIn various discussions on socioeconomic systems, I have often used the retort "Well, Bill Gates can't send men with guns to make me buy his software" as shorthand for why I generally prefer to take my chances with capitalism wherever possible, as opposed to letting the government do things.
This morning at Marko's place, I saw someone use pretty much the very same line, and I paused to think about it for a bit, and replied that it was true that he couldn't make me buy his software, at least not directly. But he can buy a government official, who will then ensure that the government buys his software, and with my money, to boot, so not only am I out the money, I don’t even get a lousy copy of Windows out of the deal.
So how do you fix it?