In a controlled (or mixed) economy, a legislator’s job consists in sacrificing
some men to others. No matter what choice he makes, no choice of this kind can
be morally justified (and never has been). Proceeding from an immoral base, no
decision of his can be honest or dishonest, just or unjust—these concepts are
inapplicable. He becomes, therefore, an easy target for the promptings of any
pressure group, any lobbyist, any influence-peddler, any manipulator—he has no
standards by which to judge or to resist them. You do not know what hidden
powers drive him or what he is doing. Neither does he.