Governments That Promise Much Pilfer Most From People They Are Supposed to Serve

History warns us that the road to equity, although paved with good intentions, all too often leads to elite enrichment.

People wait in line to receive free food at a curbside pantry in New York City on April 24, 2020. Mike Segar/Reuters

Commentary

In an age when so many politicians cast themselves as benevolent champions of equity and social justice, a troubling pattern has emerged. The very systems designed to redistribute wealth and uplift the disadvantaged have often become vehicles for systemic abuse and the enrichment of entrenched elites.

From the 19th century onward, the record of modern socialist, progressive, and New Deal-style regimes shows a consistent pattern: Promises of equitable wealth distribution are frequently followed by corruption, waste, and fraud.

Lord Acton’s famous dictum, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” remains as relevant as ever. Noble ideals can quickly devolve into mechanisms of pilferage. From the infamous corruption of 19th-century Tammany Hall in New York City to contemporary scandals in welfare state governments worldwide, unchecked power reliably benefits the powerful at the expense of those they claim to serve.

Rise of Redistribution and Its Dishonest Underbelly

The seeds of modern wealth redistribution were sown in the 19th century amid rapid industrialization and growing inequality. Thinkers such as Karl Marx advocated for socialist systems to seize and redistribute the means of production, promising a classless society.

Yet history shows that such ideals often produced regimes in which corruption thrived. In the United States, the Gilded Age (1870s–1890s) revealed how corporate wealth and political power fused to generate widespread bribery and graft. Corporate robber barons secured favorable treatment through political influence, provoking public outrage and fueling the rise of progressive politics. Progressives sought reforms to curb corruption, but their efforts frequently collided with irony: Expanding government to “fix” society often produced opportunities for abuse.

Progressive principles later evolved into then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s. Although Roosevelt was hailed for addressing Depression-era hardships, critics noted extensive waste and corruption within his administration’s vast public works, Social Security, and relief programs. Although safeguards were introduced, historians have documented how relief funds were often allocated to build political coalitions rather than to meet genuine public needs. Then-President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs in the 1960s fell into similar traps, plagued by inefficiency, fraud, and an ever-expanding administrative bureaucracy that ignored the constitutional wisdom of limited government.

On a global scale, socialist regimes provided even starker examples. The Soviet Union, founded on Marxist ideals, promised equality but devolved into a corrupt oligarchy in which party elites amassed privileges while citizens endured scarcity. George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” captured this reality in allegorical form, showing how revolutionary ideals are easily corrupted by power.

Desperate populations often embrace socialism despite its potential for deception. The pattern is familiar: Political elites capture the lion’s share of the benefits. High taxes and heavy regulation concentrate power in state hands, enabling well-positioned officials to siphon resources and exacerbating inequality rather than reducing it. When economic policy serves political ends, systematic abuse is seldom far behind.

Contemporary Manifestations of Corruption

Corruption continues to flourish where government expands under the banner of progressivism or social democracy. In Latin America, Venezuela under Hugo Chávez promised redistribution but collapsed into staggering corruption, with officials embezzling vast oil revenues amid national decline.

In the United States, the post-New Deal welfare state struggles with bureaucratic bloat and misuse of funds, diverting resources from essential services to the advantage of political insiders.

In Canada, promises of equitable redistribution through expanded government have coincided with rising reports of waste and corruption. Blacklock’s Reporter recently highlighted that there have been 18 consecutive years of deficits in Canada followed by another proposed hike to the debt ceiling. There have also been many instances of public funds not being spent responsibly, including multimillion-dollar subsidies to promote controversial U.N. policies and a Canada Revenue Agency report citing 450 possible fraud cases involving staff who claimed COVID-19 pandemic benefits while already on the government payroll.

Citizens across Western democracies are beginning to understand that pilfering is amplified by extravagant redistributionist agendas.

Power, Equality, and Corruption

Acton’s 1887 observation applies across contexts: Unchecked authority breeds moral decay, and self-proclaimed social justice champions often become the very predators they denounce. In redistribution schemes, elites—politicians, bureaucrats, contractors—gain near-absolute control over public resources, leading inevitably to self-serving decisions.

Orwell’s “Animal Farm” illustrates the phenomenon: The pigs’ corruption of egalitarian principles created a new hierarchy indistinguishable from the tyranny they replaced. Real-world socialist failures mirror that allegory.

Critics of socialism note that redistribution concentrates wealth in the hands of the state, inviting graft. A genuinely free and independent press can expose such abuses, but the absence of accountability intensifies them. In any democracy, this cycle erodes trust and increases public demand for honest governance. Politically inconvenient as it may be, evidence suggests that the runaway expansion of progressive government disproportionately harms the vulnerable by diverting resources to the well-connected.

Time to Break the Cycle

Governments that promise sweeping redistribution often deliver corruption instead. They pilfer from those they claim to serve. From 19th-century political machines to New Deal excesses to contemporary scandals, the pattern persists: Power corrupts, creating dystopian societies in which some farm animals are “more equal” than others.

To break this cycle, free citizens must prioritize limited government, transparency, and accountability over enticing promises. History warns us that the road to equity, although paved with good intentions, all too often leads to elite enrichment.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.