Larry, you said: >"As a private pilot, I've seen another manifestation of government corruption at the practical level for more than 20 years. Small airports have been disappearing at the rate of dozens every year for decades. The typical way it happens is some developer will see a small airport as a nice flat piece of land that would be better suited as a strip mall or residential community. He gives some bribes (campaign contributions) to the appropriate county commissioners or city councilmen. They in turn raise the airport's property taxes to the point where they drive the FBO or owner out of business, where regrettably the airport must be closed but look at the shiny new strip mall that will be built in its place. Another variation on the theme is to get a zoning change so they can build housing right up to the airport boundary. People move in and then start complaining about the noise, nevermind the fact that the airport may have been there for over 40 years. I've seen this exact scenario acted out many times and it continues to this day. We even had some people trying to shut down air operations at the Air Force Academy because of the noise when in fact that airport has been operating for over 40 years. For the record, I live within sight of the AFA airfield and can easily hear everything that happens there. I don't consider those operations to be noise - it's the sound of freedom to me."

Publius is neither scoffing nor saying it doesn't happen. I have personally seen both situations and the details are part of my personal experiences. My problem here is why you and Tom blame government for this? How about blaming the corrupt businessmen?
How about blaming yourself, for allowing what you perceive as being an evil to exist. Did you do anything about either of the cases you post?

The very governments you object to and condem are you. In the words of Walt Kelly in Pogo, "we have met the enemy, and he is us." The 87,000 various governments in this country are you, your neighbors, and fellow citizens. To the extent governments are corrupt, then you are corrupt.

You are a part of the problem in this equation or part of the problem. To sit back and just bitch and moan over how bad "goverment" is, is the same as voting for the activity you object to.