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Unrepresentative Democracy

Keywords

war-on-disease, 1-percent-treaty, medical-research, public-health, peace-dividend, decentralized-trials, dfda, dih, victory-bonds, health-economics, cost-benefit-analysis, clinical-trials, drug-development, regulatory-reform, military-spending, peace-economics, decentralized-governance, wishocracy, blockchain-governance, impact-investing

Unrepresentative Democracy

Unrepresentative Democracy

Here’s some fun math to ruin your day:

Chance your vote decides an election: 1 in 60 million138 Value if your candidate wins: $10,000 (in policies you prefer) Expected value of voting: $0.00017 Cost of voting (time, gas, finding parking): $50 Net value: -$49.99983

Voting is literally irrational. You have better odds of dying in a car crash on the way to vote than your vote mattering.

Yet people get really mad when you point this out.

Democracy

The Founding Fathers were smart. They created checks and balances, separation of powers, etc.

A visualization contrasting the three branches of government, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, with a chart showing that 64 percent of voters are unable to identify or describe their functions.

A visualization contrasting the three branches of government, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, with a chart showing that 64 percent of voters are unable to identify or describe their functions.

They just forgot one thing: Voters don’t know very much.

Not you, of course. You’re reading a book. But the average voter? 64% can’t name or describe what the three branches of government do139.

The Rational Ignorance Problem

Here’s why democracy can’t fix our problems:

Cost of being informed: 100+ hours researching candidates and issues Benefit of being informed: Your one vote (worth $0.00017) Rational decision: Stay ignorant, watch Netflix

This isn’t stupidity. It’s math.

A cost-benefit comparison showing the high personal cost of research against the negligible impact of a single vote, leading to the logical choice of rational ignorance.

A cost-benefit comparison showing the high personal cost of research against the negligible impact of a single vote, leading to the logical choice of rational ignorance.

Why spend 100 hours researching healthcare policy when your vote won’t change anything? Better to spend that time literally doing anything else.

What Democracy Should Look Like vs Reality

Princeton University did a study. They analyzed 1,779 policy decisions over 20 years. The correlation between what you want and what happens? Zero. Percent.140

But when economic elites want something? They get it 78% of the time140.

You have the same political influence as your houseplant. Actually less, at least politicians pretend to care about the environment.

The chart above shows what actually happens: whether 0% or 100% of voters support a bill, it has the same ~30% chance of passing.

Here’s what democracy SHOULD look like versus the reality:

Comparative visualization showing expected (higher public support = higher likelihood of bill passage) versus actual (flat line showing ~30 percent passage rate regardless of support level)

Comparative visualization showing expected (higher public support = higher likelihood of bill passage) versus actual (flat line showing ~30 percent passage rate regardless of support level)

Comparison of the theoretical ideal of democratic responsiveness versus the reality where average voter support has a near-zero impact on policy passage probability.

Comparison of the theoretical ideal of democratic responsiveness versus the reality where average voter support has a near-zero impact on policy passage probability.

The Mathematics of Political Failure

Concentrated Benefits vs. Diffuse Costs

Sugar subsidies cost Americans $3.5 billion per year106. That’s $10 per person.

Will you spend weeks fighting to save $10? No. Will sugar companies spend millions to keep their $3.5 billion? Yes.

Guess who wins?

This pattern repeats everywhere:

  • Military contractors: $999 billion concentrated benefit141 (37% of $2.72T global spending)
  • Taxpayers: $3,000 each in diffuse costs ($999B ÷ 333M Americans)
  • Winner: Guess
  • Pharma companies: $500 billion in concentrated profits142
  • Patients: $1,500 each in diffuse suffering
  • Winner: Not you
  • Banks in 2008: $700 billion bailout (concentrated)143
  • You: $2,100 in taxes (diffuse)
  • Winner: The ones with yachts

Visual comparison showing how small groups receive massive concentrated financial benefits while the costs are spread thinly across millions of taxpayers, illustrating the mathematical incentive for lobbying.

Visual comparison showing how small groups receive massive concentrated financial benefits while the costs are spread thinly across millions of taxpayers, illustrating the mathematical incentive for lobbying.

How Money Buys Power

Research shows144 campaign contributions don’t directly buy how politicians vote on legislation, only 1 in 4 studies support that notion.

A visual breakdown of how campaign spending correlates with election success and the specific ways financial contributions translate into legislative influence.

A visual breakdown of how campaign spending correlates with election success and the specific ways financial contributions translate into legislative influence.

But they do something far more effective: They buy which politicians get elected in the first place.

The numbers are stark:

  • 95% of House races since 2004144: Won by the highest spender
  • Average winning House campaign: $2.79 million144
  • Average winning Senate campaign: $26.53 million144

If you fund the campaigns of politicians who already agree with you, you don’t need to buy their votes later. You’ve already bought the election.

And for the ones already in office, contributions buy something more subtle than votes:

  • Access: Your call gets returned, theirs goes to voicemail
  • Agenda control: Your issue gets a hearing, theirs gets buried
  • Legislative language: The exact wording that creates loopholes
  • Committee positions: $450,000 to party committees144 buys a seat where bills live or die

You don’t buy the vote. You buy the voter, the agenda, and the conditions that make the vote irrelevant.

The Lobbying ROI: 1,810:1 Returns

The most profitable investment in America isn’t stocks or real estate. It’s bribing politicians:

  • Disease advocacy groups spend: $100 million on lobbying145
  • They get: $1.8 billion in increased funding145
  • ROI: 1,810:1

Meanwhile:

  • Breast cancer: Great lobbyists = massive funding
  • Heart disease: Kills more people, worse lobbyists = less funding
  • Rare pediatric diseases: No lobbyists = no funding

Democracy doesn’t allocate resources by need. It allocates by who can afford the best K Street firm.

A visual comparison showing the correlation between lobbying spend and government funding across different diseases, highlighting the massive 1,810:1 return on investment.

A visual comparison showing the correlation between lobbying spend and government funding across different diseases, highlighting the massive 1,810:1 return on investment.

Why Nothing Ever Changes: A Mathematical Proof

  • Number of Americans who want lower drug prices: 330 million
  • Money they contribute to this cause: $0
  • Number of pharma executives who want high drug prices: 1,000
  • Money they contribute: $4.88 billion

1,000 > 330,000,000 (when you multiply by money)

That’s not corruption. That’s math.

A comparison showing how 1,000 executives with billions of dollars exert more influence than 330 million citizens with no financial contribution, illustrating a power imbalance.

A comparison showing how 1,000 executives with billions of dollars exert more influence than 330 million citizens with no financial contribution, illustrating a power imbalance.

Why Politicians Don’t Care About You (With Math!)

A politician needs three things:

  1. Votes (from idiots)
  2. Money (from corporations)
  3. Media coverage (from other corporations)

You provide 1/150,000,000th of item #1. Corporations provide 100% of items #2 and #3.

A scale or comparison chart illustrating the massive disparity between an individual’s single vote and the total corporate control over campaign funding and media coverage.

A scale or comparison chart illustrating the massive disparity between an individual’s single vote and the total corporate control over campaign funding and media coverage.

Who do you think they listen to?

The Iron Law of Oligarchy

Every democratic organization eventually becomes an oligarchy. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s math.

A flowchart showing the progression from the need for leadership to the inevitable formation of an oligarchy within a democratic organization.

A flowchart showing the progression from the need for leadership to the inevitable formation of an oligarchy within a democratic organization.

Here’s how:

  1. Organization needs leaders
  2. Leaders gain expertise and connections
  3. Leaders become irreplaceable
  4. Leaders do whatever they want
  5. Democracy becomes decoration

This happened to:

  • Every political party
  • Every union
  • Every non-profit
  • Your homeowners association
  • The PTA
  • Everything

Democracy doesn’t prevent oligarchy. It legitimizes it.

Your Congressman: A Prostitute with a Pension

Average time congressmen spend on:

  • Fundraising: 4 hours/day146
  • Reading bills: 0 hours/day
  • Actual governing: Whatever’s left

They don’t even read what they vote on. The PATRIOT Act: 342 pages, voted on 45 minutes after release147. The Affordable Care Act: 2,700 pages, “we have to pass it to see what’s in it.”148

These people control nuclear weapons.

Sleep tight.

Congressional Committees: Available for Purchase

Committees are where real power lives. They control which bills live or die, what gets funded, and who gets regulated. No committee seat = no power.

So naturally, both parties sell them149:

Position Democrats (DCCC) Republicans (NRCC) Why It Costs This Much
House Speaker $31 million $20 million Controls entire agenda
Ways & Means Chair $1.8 million $1.2 million All tax laws start here
Appropriations Chair $1.8 million $1.2 million Controls $1.7 trillion budget
Energy & Commerce $1.8 million $1.2 million Healthcare + Wall Street
Regular Committee $500K-1M $875,000 Still beats irrelevance
Basic Member $150,000+ Varies Entry fee to play

The price correlates with power. Ways and Means writes tax code affecting trillions. Appropriations decides who gets government money. Energy and Commerce oversees healthcare (17% of GDP) and Wall Street.

Don’t pay? Your bills die. Your amendments get ignored. There’s even a “giant wall of shame” displaying who hasn’t paid their dues149.

This is why congressmen spend 4 hours a day fundraising. They’re not campaigning, they’re paying rent on their committee seats. The people writing your healthcare laws literally bought their positions from the same industries.

The 4-Year Attention Span: Democracy Has ADHD

  • Politician promises to “cure cancer”
  • Gets elected
  • Creates blue-ribbon commission
  • Commission recommends more committees
  • Next election happens
  • New politician promises to “cure cancer”
  • Repeat until heat death of universe

Democracy has the attention span of a goldfish on cocaine.

A cyclical flowchart illustrating the repetitive loop of election promises, bureaucratic stalling, and subsequent elections that hinders long-term progress.

A cyclical flowchart illustrating the repetitive loop of election promises, bureaucratic stalling, and subsequent elections that hinders long-term progress.

Real problems take decades to solve. Elections happen every 2-4 years. Politicians optimize for the next election, not the next generation.

Why No One Can Fix This

Every four years, someone promises to “fix Washington.”

A conceptual diagram showing how systemic incentives like corporate funding and institutional pressure act on individuals to produce specific political outcomes regardless of personal character.

A conceptual diagram showing how systemic incentives like corporate funding and institutional pressure act on individuals to produce specific political outcomes regardless of personal character.

Every four years, nothing changes.

Why? Because the problem isn’t the people. It’s the incentives.

You could elect 535 clones of Gandhi and within two years they’d be taking pharma money and approving bombing campaigns. The system corrupts everyone. It’s designed to.

The Voting Paradox

Democracy assumes voters want what’s best for society.

Reality:

  • Farmers vote for farm subsidies (bad for everyone else)
  • Old people vote for Social Security (paid by young people)
  • Rich people vote for tax cuts (paid by poor people)
  • Poor people vote for welfare (paid by middle class)
  • Everyone votes to steal from everyone else

It’s not a democracy. It’s a circular robbery.

Special Interest Groups: Democracy’s Real Winners

Number of voters: 240 million128 Number who care about sugar subsidies: 0 Number of sugar companies: 10 Number who care about sugar subsidies: 10 Winner: Big Sugar

This repeats for every industry:

  • Corn: 4,000 farmers beat 330 million consumers
  • Defense: 5 contractors beat 330 million taxpayers
  • Pharma: 50 companies beat 330 million patients

In democracy, the minority always beats the majority. The concentrated always beat the diffuse. The organized always beat the disorganized.

A visual comparison showing how small, concentrated interest groups exert more political power than the large, diffuse general public.

A visual comparison showing how small, concentrated interest groups exert more political power than the large, diffuse general public.

That’s not a bug. It’s the operating system.

Why Your Political Tribe Is Also Worthless

Republicans say they want small government. Republican presidents increase spending.

A comparison showing the contradictions between the stated ideals and observed realities of Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians.

A comparison showing the contradictions between the stated ideals and observed realities of Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians.

Democrats say they want to help poor people. Democrat cities have the most homeless.

Libertarians say they want freedom. Libertarians can’t even agree what a road is.

They’re all selling the same product: Hope that voting matters.

It doesn’t.

The Solution Democracy Can’t Provide

Democracy can’t solve coordination problems. It creates them.

A comparison chart showing the trade-off between immediate costs and long-term benefits, illustrating how democratic incentives favor short-term spending over future survival.

A comparison chart showing the trade-off between immediate costs and long-term benefits, illustrating how democratic incentives favor short-term spending over future survival.

Example: Climate change

  • Cost to fix: $1 trillion
  • Benefit: Survival of species
  • Problem: Benefits are in 50 years, costs are today
  • Democratic solution: Argue about it until Miami is underwater

Example: Medical research

  • Cost: $100 billion
  • Benefit: Cure all disease
  • Problem: Benefits are diffuse, costs are concentrated
  • Democratic solution: Spend it on bombs instead

Democracy optimizes for short-term concentrated benefits. Every time.

Public Choice Theory: The Nobel Prize for Cynicism

In 1986, James Buchanan won the Nobel Prize in Economics150 for proving what everyone already knew:

People don’t suddenly become angels when they work for the government.

This is Public Choice Theory: bureaucrats, politicians, and regulators are just as selfish as everyone else. They just have better PR.

A conceptual comparison showing that individuals in both the private sector and public sector are driven by the same self-interest motives.

A conceptual comparison showing that individuals in both the private sector and public sector are driven by the same self-interest motives.

What They Actually Maximize

Actor Should Maximize Actually Maximizes Result
NIH Cures Grants awarded No cures
FDA Lives saved Avoiding lawsuits Deadly delays
Congress Voter welfare Campaign donations Corporate welfare
Pharma Health outcomes Recurring revenue Chronic disease preferred
Defense Contractor National security Government contracts Endless wars

Nobody in the system is incentivized to cure disease. Or end war.

The Libertarian Paradox

A comparison of Libertarian, Socialist, and Public Choice Theory perspectives on government failure, concluding with a solution focused on system design.

A comparison of Libertarian, Socialist, and Public Choice Theory perspectives on government failure, concluding with a solution focused on system design.

Libertarians say: Government fails because it’s run by self-interested people

Socialists say: Government fails because it’s underfunded

Public Choice Theory says: Government fails because self-interested people are in positions where their interests conflict with good outcomes

The solution: Design systems where self-interest produces good outcomes

Why This Is Actually Good News

Democracy can’t fix these problems. But markets can.

A comparison showing the difficulty of influencing 240 million voters in a democratic system versus the efficiency of aligning 1,000 investors through market profit incentives.

A comparison showing the difficulty of influencing 240 million voters in a democratic system versus the efficiency of aligning 1,000 investors through market profit incentives.

Markets don’t care if voters are stupid. Markets don’t care if politicians are corrupt. Markets care about one thing: profit.

So make the right thing profitable.

That’s what a 1% treaty does. It doesn’t try to fix democracy. It bypasses it entirely.

Instead of convincing 240 million voters to be smart (impossible), you convince 1,000 investors to be greedy (automatic).

Why This Is Liberating

You don’t need to:

  • Find virtuous leaders
  • Hope politicians care
  • Wait for bureaucrats to change
  • Convince anyone to be less selfish

You just need to align their selfishness with your goals.

A conceptual diagram showing the shift from waiting for external virtue to actively aligning selfish interests with personal objectives.

A conceptual diagram showing the shift from waiting for external virtue to actively aligning selfish interests with personal objectives.

Solution

Democracy fails because:

  • Voters are rationally ignorant
  • Politicians follow incentives
  • Special interests concentrate benefits
  • Costs are diffused to everyone

A 1% treaty solution:

  • Don’t need informed voters (investors do the math)
  • Create better incentives (make health profitable)
  • Concentrate benefits for reform (VICTORY Incentive Alignment Bonds)
  • Diffuse costs to military budget (they won’t notice 1%)

You’re using democracy’s bugs as features.

A comparison diagram mapping the systemic failures of traditional democracy to the specific mechanisms of the 1 percent treaty solution that repurpose those ‘bugs’ as features.

A comparison diagram mapping the systemic failures of traditional democracy to the specific mechanisms of the 1 percent treaty solution that repurpose those ‘bugs’ as features.

Your Choice

Option A: Keep voting and hope it matters this time (it won’t)

Option B: Accept that democracy is broken and use market incentives instead

The Founding Fathers were geniuses, but they didn’t anticipate:

  • Television
  • The internet
  • Nuclear weapons
  • Global pandemics
  • Voters who think vaccines cause autism

Democracy made sense in 1789. Today, it’s a cargo cult.

A side-by-side comparison contrasting a traditional democratic model based on virtuous voting with a market-based system designed to leverage individual self-interest.

A side-by-side comparison contrasting a traditional democratic model based on virtuous voting with a market-based system designed to leverage individual self-interest.

But markets? Markets turned feudal peasants into TikTok influencers. Markets put computers in our pockets more powerful than what sent men to the moon. Markets work.

You’re not making people better. You’re making better systems for selfish people.

And since everyone’s selfish, those systems will actually work.

Let’s use what works.

A Brief History of Human Decision-Making (Spoiler: It’s Bad)

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others151.

A satirical timeline showing the evolution of human decision-making from primitive physical force to modern digital complexity and lobbying.

A satirical timeline showing the evolution of human decision-making from primitive physical force to modern digital complexity and lobbying.

Churchill said that. He was drunk at the time, but still right.

Here’s how humanity currently makes decisions:

  1. Ancient Times: Biggest guy with club decides everything. Sometimes eaten by tiger. New biggest guy takes over.

  2. Classical Era: Guys in togas vote. Women, slaves, and anyone interesting excluded. Socrates forced to drink poison for asking questions.

  3. Medieval Period: God allegedly tells one inbred family what to do. Family mostly interested in cousin-marriage and cathedral construction.

  4. Modern Democracy: Millions vote for representatives who ignore them. Representatives vote based on bribes. Lobbyists write the actual laws. Everyone pretends this makes sense.

  5. Current System: All of the above, plus Twitter.

Why Your Brain Can’t Handle Democracy

The human brain evolved to:

  • Remember where the good berries are
  • Run from tigers
  • Decide who to mate with
  • Hold grudges against that guy who stole your mammoth meat

The human brain did NOT evolve to:

  • Understand compound interest
  • Evaluate 10,000 budget proposals
  • Comprehend exponential growth
  • Care about people 10,000 miles away
  • Think about consequences beyond next Tuesday

Your working memory can hold about 7 things152. That’s it. Seven. The phone number length isn’t a coincidence.

A comparison showing the mismatch between the brain’s evolutionary capabilities, such as survival skills and small group dynamics, versus the overwhelming complexity of modern democratic governance.

A comparison showing the mismatch between the brain’s evolutionary capabilities, such as survival skills and small group dynamics, versus the overwhelming complexity of modern democratic governance.

Yet we ask people to:

  • Choose between thousands of political candidates
  • Understand the federal budget ($6 trillion of complexity)
  • Have opinions on every global crisis simultaneously
  • Rank the importance of infinite problems
  • Do all this while checking Instagram

No wonder democracy produces results like:

  • The platypus (God’s committee design)
  • The U.S. tax code (27,000 pages of pure evil153)
  • Pineapple pizza (crimes against Italy)

We’re asking chimp brains to do quantum physics. Then we’re surprised when the chimps elect other chimps who throw feces at each other on C-SPAN.

How Government Actually Allocates Money (A Horror Story)

The Current Budget Process: Democracy Theater

Here’s how your government decides to spend trillions:

Step 1: Lobbyists Write Checks

  • Defense contractors donate $50 million
  • Pharmaceutical companies donate $40M
  • Teachers unions donate their lunch money
  • Poor people donate nothing (mistake)
Step 2: Politicians Pretend to Think
  • Hold hearings nobody watches
  • Read reports nobody wrote
  • Make speeches nobody believes
  • Vote based on who paid them
Step 3: The Budget Emerges

A comparative visualization of the four budget categories showing the massive scale disparity between trillion-dollar allocations and the significantly smaller education and arts funding.

A comparative visualization of the four budget categories showing the massive scale disparity between trillion-dollar allocations and the significantly smaller education and arts funding.

Like a demon from a committee meeting:

  • Military: $999 billion141 (for killing)
  • Healthcare: $1.5 trillion154 (for not dying, but slowly)
  • Education: $80 billion155 (explaining why we can’t afford education)
  • Arts: $200 million156 (Congress’s cocaine budget is higher)
Step 4: Everyone Gets Mad
  • Conservatives: “Too much welfare!”
  • Liberals: “Too much warfare!”
  • Economists: “None of this makes sense!”
  • Lobbyists: “Perfect, same time next year?”

A visualization showing the conflicting demands of different political stakeholders and the resulting systemic outcomes like national debt and decaying infrastructure.

A visualization showing the conflicting demands of different political stakeholders and the resulting systemic outcomes like national debt and decaying infrastructure.

This system has produced:

  • $30 trillion in national debt157
  • Bridges collapsing while we build new bombers
  • Schools using textbooks from 1987
  • The F-35 fighter jet (doesn’t fight, barely jets)

P.S. - If you still believe in democracy, ask yourself: Would you let 150 million random Americans perform your heart surgery by voting on each incision? No? Then why let them vote on healthcare policy? At least with surgery, you’d die quickly.

Regulatory Capture: How Industries Write Their Own Rules

The best investment in America isn’t stocks or real estate. It’s buying politicians. As detailed earlier, the return on investment for lobbying is astronomical, with studies showing returns as high as 1,810:1.

A comparison showing the massive 1,810:1 return on investment for lobbying compared to traditional investments like stocks or real estate.

A comparison showing the massive 1,810:1 return on investment for lobbying compared to traditional investments like stocks or real estate.

How to Buy a Democracy: A Practical Guide

  1. Hire an Ex-Congressman: There are 13,700 registered lobbyists in Washington69, and half of them used to work in the government69 they’re now bribing. The revolving door spins so fast it powers half of DC.

An infographic illustrating the ‘revolving door’ of DC lobbying, the disparity between corporate spending and congressional salaries, and the resulting impact on legislation and consumer costs.

An infographic illustrating the ‘revolving door’ of DC lobbying, the disparity between corporate spending and congressional salaries, and the resulting impact on legislation and consumer costs.

  1. Speak the Universal Language (Money): In 2023, corporations spent $4.1 billion on lobbying158. That’s $7.7 million per congressman, who makes only $174,000 a year159.

  2. Write the Laws Yourself: Pharmaceutical companies and defense contractors literally write their own regulations and budgets. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, written by pharma lobbyists160, banned the government from negotiating drug prices160, leading to Americans paying $1,200 for insulin that costs $6 to make161.

The Money Machine: How Regulatory Capture Works

  1. Campaign Contributions: Perfectly legal bribes. Citizens United162 made corporations people, and people can donate unlimited money through Super PACs.

  2. Revolving Door: Work in government, learn the system, sell that knowledge to the highest bidder. It’s LinkedIn for corruption.

  3. Lobbying: Hire people to whisper sweet nothings (and campaign donation promises) in politicians’ ears.

  4. Jobs Blackmail: Spread operations across districts. Threaten to leave if politicians don’t cooperate. “Nice employment rate you got there. Shame if something happened to it.”

  5. Regulatory Capture: Get your people appointed to agencies that regulate you. The fox doesn’t guard the henhouse - the fox owns the henhouse and charges the chickens rent.

A cyclical flowchart demonstrating the self-reinforcing loop of money, influence, and regulation that allows industries to capture the agencies meant to oversee them.

A cyclical flowchart demonstrating the self-reinforcing loop of money, influence, and regulation that allows industries to capture the agencies meant to oversee them.

The Military-Industrial Complex: Murder Inc.

Lockheed Martin’s business model is a masterclass in political leverage. By distributing operations across 42 states163, they ensure that any attempt to cut funding for a program like the $1.7 trillion F-35 fighter jet164 is met with furious opposition from senators protecting local “jobs.”

A visualization of Lockheed Martin’s strategic distribution of operations across 42 states, illustrating the feedback loop between local job creation and political leverage to secure defense funding.

A visualization of Lockheed Martin’s strategic distribution of operations across 42 states, illustrating the feedback loop between local job creation and political leverage to secure defense funding.

The Defense Budget: A Comedy in Three Acts

Act 1: The Pentagon requests nearly a trillion dollars for “readiness,” a figure detailed in the Cost of War chapter.

A flow diagram illustrating the three-stage process of defense budgeting: the Pentagon’s initial request, Congress’s added funding, and the final distribution to contractors.

A flow diagram illustrating the three-stage process of defense budgeting: the Pentagon’s initial request, Congress’s added funding, and the final distribution to contractors.

Act 2: Congress adds $25 billion the Pentagon didn’t ask for165.

Act 3: Money goes to contractors in key congressional districts.

Curtain falls. Audience (taxpayers) weeps.

The Pentagon has never passed an audit166. They literally don’t know where trillions of dollars166 went. But somehow they know they need more.

Big Pharma: Your Dealer Has a Lobbyist

The pharmaceutical industry employs 3 lobbyists for every member of Congress167, ensuring that policies favor profit over patients. The result is a system where a drug patent sold for $1 in 1922161 now costs Americans $300 per vial161, and where the FDA gets 75% of its drug review budget from the companies it regulates168.

A visualization of the pharmaceutical industry’s influence, highlighting the 3:1 lobbyist-to-Congress ratio, the rise of insulin costs from 1 to 300, and the FDA’s 75 percent reliance on industry funding.

A visualization of the pharmaceutical industry’s influence, highlighting the 3:1 lobbyist-to-Congress ratio, the rise of insulin costs from 1 to 300, and the FDA’s 75 percent reliance on industry funding.

The Incentive Structure From Hell

The entire system is perfectly incentivized to maintain the status quo:

  • Pharmaceutical Companies: Cures are a one-time payment; treatments are a recurring revenue stream.
  • FDA Regulators: Approving a bad drug ends a career; delaying a good one has no consequences.
  • Politicians: Funding pragmatic clinical trials is boring; creating new agencies provides photo ops.

A visualization of the misaligned incentives among pharmaceutical companies, regulators, and politicians that prioritize systemic stability over patient outcomes.

A visualization of the misaligned incentives among pharmaceutical companies, regulators, and politicians that prioritize systemic stability over patient outcomes.

Everyone who matters wins. Everyone who’s dying loses.

The Solution They Don’t Want

Here’s the secret: Their whole system depends on diffuse costs and concentrated benefits.

A comparison showing how the current system of diffuse costs and concentrated benefits for corruption can be flipped to reward peace and health through concentrated reform incentives.

A comparison showing how the current system of diffuse costs and concentrated benefits for corruption can be flipped to reward peace and health through concentrated reform incentives.

Each American loses $100 to corruption. Not worth fighting over. Each corporation gains $100 million. Very worth fighting for.

But what if you concentrated the benefits of reform? What if curing disease was more profitable than treating it? What if peace paid better than war?

That’s what a 1% treaty does. It doesn’t fight the system. It hijacks it.

You’re going to out-bribe the bribers.

The same lobbying system that created this mess is the feature you will exploit. Lockheed Martin and Pfizer don’t love war and disease; they love money. By making health and peace the most profitable investments in history, you can hijack the system and buy your democracy back.

Your Democracy: An Auction House

Every law is for sale. Every regulation negotiable. Every politician has a price.

A conceptual map of the political auction house, showing how major industries have historically purchased influence and the mechanism for citizens to use the same system.

A conceptual map of the political auction house, showing how major industries have historically purchased influence and the mechanism for citizens to use the same system.

That’s not cynicism. That’s Wednesday in Washington.

The military-industrial complex figured this out in 1961. Big Pharma perfected it in the 1990s. Wall Street turned it into an art form in 2008.

Now it’s your turn.

You’re not going to fix democracy. That’s impossible. You’re going to buy it back.

One perfectly legal bribe at a time.

P.S. - If this chapter depressed you, remember: The same system that lets corporations buy politicians also lets you buy them back. The corruption is the feature you’re going to exploit. It’s like using the Death Star’s exhaust port, but with spreadsheets instead of proton torpedoes.