The Problem of Big

So long as there are only two ways to get ahead -- the legitimate way, which leads to earned success, and the illegitimate way, which leads to unearned success or, if things go wrong, to jail -- the system of freedom and responsibility we call democratic capitalism works very well. As a rule, people who make good choices (who work hard, play by the rules, and live within their means) succeed, and people who make bad choices (who don’t work hard, don’t play by the rules, and live beyond their means) fail. This goes for institutions large and small, and for people powerful and weak. The rules for all of us start with the law and, ultimately, the U.S. Constitution.

One of the problems of Big (i.e.: an organization that has reached such a size that its continued existence and success is no longer contingent upon its quality of service) is that it creates a third option: neither obeying the rules nor breaking the rules, but changing the rules as you go. That’s what happens in cronyism, which is in effect legal cheating. [Big] institutions change the rules, so what would have been cheating, and what many people see as cheating, is actually blessed by the state. The transactions of crony capitalism -- campaign contributions on one side, policy changes on the other -- are all perfectly legal.... Big government and its Big partners rob individuals and our nation of freedom, opportunity, and prosperity.

-- Jim DeMint, former US Senator (SC), Falling in Love with America Again (2014) [quote edited]