From my column today:

Learning that a Senate seat was being sold was offensive and shocking to many Americans. But what they tend to forget is that Senate seats and other political appointments are not the only things that could be, and are being, sold by politicians all the time.

Taxpayer funding for special pet projects is continuously sold by most members of the U.S. Congress to those who play the game through political contributions and private treats. These earmarks are the most obvious and continuous form of kickbacks we see in politics today. Disturbing questions can indeed be raised about most earmarks. Barack Obama, for example, requested a $1 million earmark for a Chicago hospital a year after it raised his wife’s salary by $200,000. Sounds like a good investment for the hospital.

Indeed, politicians have made it very profitable for special interests to contribute, entertain and lobby for money. The auto industry and its affiliates, for example, have spent $65 million in the first nine months of this year on political contributions and lobbying, and the unions have invested substantial amounts as well. One would think that a struggling industry and unions would use such large sums of money on directly saving their companies and jobs. But in return for throwing it at politicians, they will probably receive a multi-billion dollar bailout in the coming months. Recipients of corporate welfare, such as agricultural subsidies, enjoy similarly excellent deals with politicians. The same goes for government contractors and beneficiaries of selective regulation.

How are any of these illustrations any less shocking and deplorable than what Blagojevich did?

Read the rest of my column here.