The Shady World of Politics

     There’s this guy, just an acquaintance really, and we almost never agree on anything, but the other day he said, “When I talk about politics, parties are immaterial. I am an Independent - both parties are deeply corrupt in many different ways...” At last, there is something upon which we can agree!
     Transparency International is a website that they say is intended to give voice to the victims and witnesses of corruption, work together with governments, businesses and citizens to stop the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals. They add that they want a world free of corruption. Good luck with that! 
     They maintain that in 36 out of 62 countries surveyed, political parties were rated by the general public as the institution most affected by corruption. After political parties, the next most corrupt institutions worldwide were perceived to be parliaments followed equally by the police and the judiciary. 
     An interesting statistic was that half of the low income respondents believed that corruption is a big problem, but only 38 per cent of high-income respondents felt the same. The poor also reported the biggest impact of corruption on their personal and family lives. That’s no surprise. As an attorney once told me when the subject of bankruptcy laws came up...he said the laws were written to benefit the rich, not the poor and middle class. 

A case of the pot calling the kettle black… 

 
     Last year The Atlantic ran an article titled, The Corruption of the Republican Party and asked “Why has the Republican Party become so thoroughly corrupt?” Why single out the Republican party? 
     The online magazine Week ran an article “The Democratic Party is suffused with wretched cowardice” and claimed “great swathes of the Democratic structure are permeated to their very marrow with moral rot and cowardice, unwilling to do anything...” and went on to say, “If America is to be purged of the Republican Party's lawlessness and corruption, only somewhat less serious problems in the Democratic Party must also be rooted out first.” 
     Political corruption is defined as the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done under color of law or involves trading in influence. 
     Corruption includes bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft and embezzlement. Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, though is not restricted to these activities. 
    Naturally there are loopholes. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. And, in some cases, government officials have broad or ill-defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Campaign contributions are almost impossible to police.
     One of the biggest frauds perpetrated on voters is what I like to call “reverse wording.” It’s used to turn “No” votes into “Yes” votes and politicians use it all the time on ballots. Depending on how a question is put on the ballot, a measure can become confusing and a no vote can be turned into a yes vote, or the reverse. 

     Voting along party lines is to vote in a manner that is consistent with the official policy or opinion of one's political party and it is irresponsible. As columnist David Davenport opined in Forbes magazine:

“...there is now a growing cancer on Congress. The rapid and pervasive rise of party-line voting is a cancer that is eating at the effectiveness of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. As a consequence, what was once the world’s most deliberative body, the US Senate, hardly deliberates at all, and what little is accomplished in Washington is done through party-line votes and executive orders, with devastating consequences.” 

He continued… “Unfortunately party-line voting has become the new normal. As recently as the early 1970s, party unity voting was around 60 percent but today it is closer to 90 percent in both the House and Senate.” 

    Mr. Davenport concluded, “Apparently party discipline is more important than finding the right solution...” Nothing new in all this. 

8 Early American Political Scandals - From an early sex scandal to a mass conspiracy to siphon taxes from the federal treasury, get the facts on eight political controversies from the 18th and 19th centuries. Juicy stuff! 
American Presidential Scandals 
Political Corruption in Postbellum America 

When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election - It took decades to unravel Nixon’s sabotage of Vietnam peace talks. Now, the full story can be told. Interesting reading.