I thought your description was excellent and sent it to a friend of mine...this is what I got back in response...
In the end it is income transfer and monopolistic control (such as the FDA) that drives corruption in government. It was not the intention of the founding fathers for the government to tax us and pay for social security, medicare, medicaid, welfare, corporate farming, stimulus checks, pork, entitlements, bail outs of big companies, bail out of state or city governments, military bases all over the world, foreign wars such as Viet Nam and Iraq which generate huge profits for the military industrial complex, etc. If income transfers were illegal (which they are based on a strict interpretation of the constitution) then we would be voting for representatives in a very limited Federal Government to protect us with a standing army, a judicial and criminal system, certain administrative costs to coordinate the states, regulate pollution that causes death and disease, regulate industry to the degree necessary to prevent crime and scams, etc. If the Federal Government could not engage in income transfers then politicians could not buy votes and most of the problem would be solved. As it is the Federal Government is little more than organized crime and electing new crime leaders more often will not solve the problem.
I would wholeheartedly agree with your friend's sentiments, except for this line. Short of revolution, voting out the folks who created this mess is the single best tool we have at our disposal. The only way we are going to shake up Congress and make them listen, even if only temporarily, is to throw as many of the bums out of office as possible, and especially the long entrenched incumbents who think they are made of Teflon.....