Pork, or pork-barrel legislation, is wasteful spending made famous by the Pentagon with their $700 toilet seats, $600 hammers, etc. As long as taxpayers don’t find out, politicians in this way cultivate support from the beneficiaries of this generosity.

Logrolling is when 2 representatives or parties trade votes for each other’s pork.

C. Malte Lewan’s “candidate thesis” [90K] about direct democracy in Germany (and Europe in general) makes the point that in areas with more direct democracy, government waste is less, and the economy is healthier.