Government, A Corrupt Government

“Corruption, improper and usually unlawful conduct intended to secure a benefit for oneself or another its forms include bribery, extortion, and the misuse of inside information. It exists where there is community indifference or a lack of enforcement policies.”(Encyclopedia Britannica). Today political Corruption in all forms exists in every country in the world. In some countries it is more prominent then in others, but no matter where you go it still occurs. Recently in mid 2013 some political corruption was brought to light in New York. “Since 2007, state senators have been more likely to be arrested then to lose their seats in a general election,” (New York Public Interest Research group). In April of 2013 New York State

Political corruption is a major problem in the US today. It involves almost all levels of government and affects people from all walks of life. Public office is a noble post and citizens put their trust in government officials to carry out their constitutional duties for the benefit of the citizenry. The problem comes in where both elected and unelected officials perform their duties with the goal of personal gain in full view of the law. The ethical and moral wrongs of corruption are unjustifiable in any context.

In the case of money, it is corruption. Some would argue that money is the root of all problems, and that there is no instance where money doesn’t cause corruption. This threat is constant in the media today: the election, the celebrities, the news. These and many more are considered corrupted by a source of great wealth, being that the cantaditas pay for votes, the celebrities are paid for their acting in the media, and the news stations are paid by different political parties to represent them in broadcasts. Sadly, as this does occur, many people are represented for their money and not for their talent due to the overvaluing of money in America. It is most definitely true that corruption does occur as a result of money, but not to a complete extent. While these instances do occur in today’s world, there is reform in action as well as the fact that not all Americans are led towards this path of deception. It is true that many people are drawn towards money when it comes to picking a leader or immersing oneself in the media, there are many cases of Americans going towards those who exemplify ideals similar to their own over those who have larger supplies of wealth. This paves the way to the realization that not all Americans overvalue

Tulia, a small town in Texas of just under five-thousand people, is a frightening example of how the judicial system is governed solely by racism as well as one corrupt man’s word. In 1999, nearly ten percent of the town’s African American population was arrested in a single drug bust. Of the forty-six people arrested, thirty-eight were African-American, furthermore all were convicted. The remaining seven arrested where know to associate more with the black community than the white in Tulia as well. With the towns income levels averaging at or below the poverty line, most arrested could not afford to hire a good attorney that cared or had the time to care, left therefore with one provided by the state. Consequently, convictions were up to ninety years in jail for allegedly selling three and a half grams, more commonly known as an eight ball, of cocaine in drug-free zones. In was only on appeals, that the convictions where revoked on insubstantial evidence.

All the while there is corruption caused within industrial society by the corporate dominance of politics, those are the people that were left to suffer the harsh treatment of chasing after wealth. Winners and losers were prevalent within the economy, society as well as politics in America as a result of The Gilded Age.

Corruption can come from many different people. When the same group of people are always in government it becomes a situation where this group of people runs government. And when someone wants to be elected they might do whatever the group of people wants to be in there favor. The Federalist paper number 68 it says “He might otherwise be tempted to sacrifice his duty to his complaisance for those whose favor was necessarily to the duration of his official consequence” (Hamilton). There are also people from foreign countries that want to be the leader of America just for the benefit of their home country. They

Corruption is no longer just judges taking bribes. It is defined as any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is either not performing duties it was originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system 's original purpose (Sachs, Judicial Misconduct). Many social issues are derived from the corrupt legal system. Millionaires and billionaires are committing white-collar crimes that could lock them up for many years, but instead of being punished they are enjoying mansions and

The duty of government is described in John Adams as to, “inculcate the principles of humanity, charity, industry, frugality, honesty, sincerity.” (224) In summation, the government’s ideals ought to be to instill virtue to its citizens with persistent instruction. However, Politics takes command of government when men disagree on when, how, and to what extent those virtues ought to be instilled. Politics controls people, which brings a motivation for corruption; and at the same time, people control politics, allowing that corruption to become manifest. However, politics cannot be corrupt on it’s own, rather through its composition of men and their thoughts contributes to its corruption. Politics will only be corrupt if those composing it

There are few nation-states that one could point to as being truly “corruption-free” (Denmark hosts the most corruption-free gov’t according to Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index). However, this is a trait that holds back the growth of the whole of society, weakening the disadvantaged and emboldening the powerful. As Transparency International goes on to state:

The secession of the slave states, the American War of Independence, the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments, and Texas’ Declaration of Independence all have the common theme of a group leaving or protesting because they feel their government has failed them. The secession of the slave states felt that their government failed them because the federal government was not protecting their right to own slaves. They felt that this was the government more working for the free states and ignoring that they had rights too. The American War of Independence between the colonies and Great Britain showed how the colonies felt Great Britain had failed them. The colonies felt as though with the harsh taxes and general lack of concern for what was going on in

Power is the central component at odds. In a democracy power should be equally distributed, while capitalism doles out power to those who are thriving in the free market. A democracy is based upon the success of an individual and their equal opportunity, while a capitalist believes a successful business is the penultimate benefactor. Unfortunately, corruption occurs as a result of these opposing beliefs. She points to Thurow who once state that the “middle class is dissolving”.

It would be convenient to start this research paper by stating that corruption is a challenge mainly for businesses in developing countries and that it is unrelated to the current affliction of the economy in the United States. It would also be convenient to claim corruption has declined in America as a result of awareness raising campaigns and the numerous anti-corruption laws. But none of those aforementioned statements would be true. Corruption is not the exception, but rather the rule in today’s business practices. In 2004, Daniel Kaufmann, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and former director at the World Bank, calculated an index of "legally corrupt" manifestations which is defined as the extent of undue influence

The unlawful use of a person’s position while in power leads to multiple problems with today’s government. The corrupt methods politicians use are ideas that are strictly in place for personal gain. Present throughout history and still prevalent within today’s world, government corruption has consisted of a number of negative issues including bribery, economic and social impacts, and the misuse of power. Government’s role within daily life has been shown to have negative effects as seen in many aspects of life as well as in literature.

It seems more difficult to change the regime. This is the source of corruption. When one class of society strives to better themselves and succeed in doing so, it causes corruption.

Political corruption is parasitic; it finds a host, and can almost always find a way to survive. Eventually, people grow dependent on this corruption as a means for income, thus forming a symbiosis between the people who benefit from it, and the elites that regulate it. People sometimes ignore the corruption surrounding them, feeling that as long as the politicians do their jobs well, their ‘extra salary’ can’t hurt (BNS).