Understanding that it is governments – not free markets – that create harmful monopolies is monumentally essential in order to harbor a comprehension of basic economic principles.
Organized interest groups are able to control a lot of policy making, even if most people in the unorganized public disagree with them.
Draining the swamp may be a popular political slogan, but unless the swamp is restructured and significantly reduced, even the best of us on our worst days will use political office to enhance our power at the expense of others.
It’s a useful illustration of the logic of political action when the state is in a position to dispense favors, whether those favors be subsidies or mandates or barriers to entry that protect special interests’ profits.