The "District of Corruption."

Norman Ornstein writes about the District of Corruption in an article that everyone should read. He writes about the corrosive effects of lobbying in Washington. Mr. Ornstein focuses on the symptoms of the disease rather than the real cause.

He points to "the sheer amount of money sloshing around. In 1970, the federal budget was all of $195 billion. Today, the budget is over $3 trillion." He recognizes that "[w]ith so many federal dollars at stake, the capital injected into the system to influence government decisions has exploded."

Mr. Ornstein contends that "President Obama's tough ethics and lobbying restrictions, the most far-reaching ever, are so welcome." Unfortunately, these restrictions treat the symptoms rather than the cause of the disease facing Washington. It seems the equivalent of the Dutch boy putting his finger in the dike. It may help a little for a while but it will not hold for long.

As mining in Washington returns greater profits than mining real ores in Montana and other locations, it will attract ever greater resources to achieve those profits. Ingenuity will find ways around the tightest ethics restrictions just as they do regulations on campaign contributions.

In fact, President Obama has already waived his own rules to allow former lobbyists into his administration. This hardly encourages one to think that his restrictions are as tough or far reaching as Mr. Ornstein suggests. More importantly, it shows the inability of such restrictions in solving the real problem.

The real solution lies in reducing the benefits of winning influence in Washington and increasing the transparency of those working in the Washington mines. The real scandal of Tom Daschle is not his failure to pay taxes, but that he earned such massive income in such a short period of time based solely on his connections as a former Senator.

That scandal seems to arise also in the recent revelation that Leon Panetta earned more than $700,000 for speaches and consulting since the beginning of 2008. Mr. Panetta may be a great speaker, but that is a lot of money.

This suggests in no way that either Mr. Daschle or Mr. Panetta is less than an honorable man or that they did anything illegal or unethical. It simply indicates the massive sums of money available for people who have held positions of authority in Washington and who may provide influence with those presently in positions of power.

Elected officials should continue to report their income and its sources for 10 years after they leave office just as they did while in office. This will shine some light into the process.

The only effective solution to the problem lies in three areas. First, we must reduce the size of government and the budget. Second, the influence of elected officials over the recipients of government expenditures must be eliminated. Ear marks exemplify this problem. Third, Congress must simplify tax rules to take the incentive out of continual lobbying to win tax breaks.