Not as much as Academics or Theocrats… Democratically elected politicians base their power on Popularity. If they are unpopular then they have no power. So corruption is limited to what is popular, not what is dogmatic. Dogmas tend to be unpopular or traditional. Dogmas are long-term. Politickal popularity is short-term. For example the popularity of a president rises & falls with his media coverage. Limiting terms of office for politicians reduces short-term corruption in a Democracy. ________________________ That's a good point; but you have to consider the tax rates, expenditures, and returns on taxation in terms of social protection for all. In a Libertarian society, police & military have a special interest to protect the wealthy and not the poor. In fact there probably would be massive die-offs and murders in the poor class of a Libertarian society. Gangs would rule the streets & ghettos. Because they have no incentives whatsoever to pay for protection after being born into poverty. But you guys have no nukes; and the Russians would have conquered much more than just East Germany had the US not been a staunch ally of Western Europeans. Economy is one part of a superpower; military and technology is the other part.