The following letter was sent to the Fayetteville Observer on January 26, 2010.

I am responding to the Observer editorial, "Cleanup: Corruption needs bipartisan effort to cure it"  on January 26, which addressed some of the corruption charges facing prominent N.C. Democrats, and the need for both parties to do something about it.

The editorial touched on a real problem, but fell short of giving a real solution. The problem of corruption isn't solved by the Democrats or Republicans. It isn't solved by government at all. The problem of corruption is government, and the only way to end that corruption is to decrease the size and scope of government.

Think about it. Whenever you hear the word corruption, is not a government official always involved?
North Carolina centralized state liquor sales, and the result is top ABC officials taking massive salaries and hiring family members to high-level jobs, as pointed out in the Observer article "Local troubles increase support for private liquor sales", on Dec. 29. We have former Governors and State Congressmen facing criminal corruption proceedings for a variety of offenses. Do we really think the answer to this is to let those same politicians sort it out for themselves? Not me.

The solution is to get government out of the business of business, and not to contemplate state-run healthcare efforts, more state programs, and bigger state bureaucracies.  Whenever you invite elected officials to oversee money they have not earned and programs they do not have to pay for, you invite corruption.

It's time we revisit our definition of good government, and learn from those who understood government's role in our lives: "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." - Thomas Jefferson

By Ashley Smith

Cumberland County Libertarian Party