If you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—if you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—if you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—if you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed.

Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged”