I don't even know where to begin with this. I see a pattern of you stating a seemingly uncontroversial premise, then building on it with an anti-government non-sequitur.

• Campaign financing is a system of bad incentives, you got me, we're on the same page. But it's "surprising" to you that people think a solution ought to be more legislation? How do you suggest we change the rules? Ask nicely? Maybe we could publicly finance campaigns, enable officials to govern instead of spending half their time fundraising. Maybe we could even implement a campaign voucher system where citizens not only vote on their preferred candidate but also provide the sole legally allowed funds to the campaign via vouchers allotted to each citizen. Hell, there are a lot of ideas to fix the mess. But it would require passing legally binding statute.

• You say corporations pay a lot in taxes... And then add the non-sequitur that they pay "more than the poor." Well, of course they do. The poor don't pay anything. They have nothing to pay. Do you believe part of the antidote to what ails the US is regressive taxation? If so, please clarify and advocate this position rather than obfuscate the point of taxation. Furthermore, I reserve the right to be very angry with corporations and not the rules of taxation simply because those rules were written and established by these corporations. To point to a rule as an excuse for unethical behavior is, at the very least, moral confusion, if not outright motivated evil.

• You find the vilification of corporations mysterious? I'm perplexed by your lack of imagination. "Why do people give Walmart a hard time about their lousy working conditions if the condition of their servitude is voluntary" is, in my mind, an indistinct version of the argument of "why do we give garment factory owners a hard time for their lousy conditions if the job is voluntary?" At this point I'd argue for human dignity, workplace physical and mental safety, add in a touch of Marxist argument concerning the unchecked exploitation of the worker that goes on in an unregulated market, but I won't. I won't because I feel like it'd be a waste of time.

This may be unfair of me, but I can't help but to connect the dots of your statements as a reflection of your values, which stately baldly is anti-governmentism in, apparently, every form. Which is one of the oldest arguments around. The fundamental difference between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, Democrats and Republicans, the alt-right and Bernie Supporters. If that's the fight you wanna have, have at it. But this is the irreconcilable difference I alluded to at the outset. People change their minds on this subject rarely. This conviction is almost at the level of belief, operating semi-consciously the way that a love for Jesus informs someone's behavior and attitude.

So the already difficult conversation isn't served well by circumlocution.