Persuasive Essay On Government Corruption

In 1983, Raymond Carver introduced his short story “Cathedral” to the public. The first-person narrative takes place within the narrator’s home, where his wife is waiting upon the arrival of her blind friend Robert. The narrator, however, becomes more concerned about how Robert’s visit will affect him rather than enjoy the situation. Once Robert arrives, the narrator tries to understand the blind man, but he is unaware of what tasks Robert is capable of performing due to the narrator’s inability to “see”. In time, Robert shows the narrator the difference between looking and seeing through illustrations of a cathedral, drawn by the narrator with his eyes closed. “Cathedral’s” narrator exposes readers to anti-heroic views

One of the issues I am most passionate about is that of money in American politics. Increasing campaign costs, coupled with a decrease in the number of donors contributing to those campaigns, is a disturbing trend which has caused many to feel the need to question the state of our democracy—myself included. The problem of mainstream political corruption and legalized bribery is one that I was made aware of three years ago, and has since become one of the things keeping me up at night most often.

Why do political candidates, like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, sacrifice their morals and alter the moral fabric of society by using dirty tricks and maneuvers, twisting the truth, and telling outright lies?

Being an athletes is one of the best-paid jobs on Earth. Being that they are paid so much the cost for the consumer is very high. The prices of tickets and sports memorabilia have been steadily rising over the years. The average ticket prices for the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL all rose 5% to 10% this year, according to Jon Greenberg, executive editor of Team Marketing Report. (Mihoces).

This presidential camping has been both the best and worst thing that has happened in American politics in a long time. To be clear I have nothing against any of the candidates and believe all serve some purpose. However, the actions taken during the presidential campaign have left me utterly disturbed and also surprisingly delighted, so I thought I would share.

With NFL Players kneeling everywhere and soldiers feeling unappreciated, our country is in shock. It all started by a player named Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, in 2016. This event persuaded numerous NFL players to continue this process. One by one, players all over the league began to protest to call attention to the issues of "racial inequalities and police brutality". With mixed reviews of this protest, I believe that kneeling during the National Anthem of the United States of America is disrespectful because it is abrasive, selfish, and hurtful. Also, I am not sure that all of those protesting in this manner know the true meaning of our national anthem or the flag that represents our freedom.

According to an annual survey done by Berlin-Based organization Transparency International, the world’s least corrupt nations in 2013 were Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand. The United States on the other hand landed in 19th place. (Infoplease.com)It’s not surprising to see the United States, land of opportunity, has dropped in ranking. Even every time when we watch the news or political channel, more and more scandals of corrupt politicians are revealed. Based off the citizens for responsibility and ethics in Washington or CREW, a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated in holding public officials accountable for their actions, about seventeen members of the past congress member were listed for most corrupt. The political scandals we

Because power is a highly coveted asset, corruption is often intertwined with the journey in acquiring power. Because America has a two party system consisting of a Democratic Party and a Republican Party, there is much power to be obtained if one is able to secure a representative spot in either party (Tannahill 118). In particular, I believe representatives in the Republican Party are more concerned about their political seats and what power can be gained from their seats than doing what is best for their constituents. This can be seen in the public’s assessment of political parties and in the presence of crony capitalism.

In recent years, voter fraud has been a controversial topic. Many states have passed or have tried to pass laws that enforce strict Voter ID laws if a person wants to cast a vote in their state. Donald Trump has been someone who has spoken widely on the topic of voter fraud. According to Zeke J. Miller, a writer for Time Magazine, Trump has “repeated his unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud”. I personally do not believe voter fraud is happening this much in our elections and really think some politicians are looking for someone to blame when the outcome is not what they would have liked.

President William J. Clinton sealed his fate when he declared under oath, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” (“Quote of the Day”). Former President Clinton was impeached shortly after the statement was released due to Article Two, Section Four, which states, “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” (Mount). The article gives the House of Representatives the power to remove officials, who commit high crimes and misdemeanors like Clinton. (“Article II Section 4.”) Impeachment originated from Great Britain, which granted parliament a way to hold the king’s ministers accountable for their public actions, and while the founding fathers were in the process of writing the United States Constitution, the founders valued impeachment, thus adding the article directly into the US Constitution, because they feared that without impeachment the executive power would abuse its resources. (“Impeachment.”) The framers constructed the constitution in such a way that the House of Representatives would vote to impeach the government official, and the official in question would stand trial for the accusation in the Senate. Then, for the accused official to be removed from office, they must be convicted by two-thirds of the Senate. (Sunstein, “Article II Section 4.”) Article Two, Section Four of the United States Constitution upholds the President and all civil offices of the United States to impeachment if the officials commit high crimes and misdemeanors, bribery, or treason.

When exploring political White Collar Crime involving the executive branch, legislative branch, judiciary branch and state and local governments within the United States, we can perceive all of these branches have some form of political corruption. Though it is hard to define it represent a fine line, which when crossed, the public is vulnerable. Corruption can include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, embezzlement and kickbacks. For example, campaign contributions would be a great way for underpaid political figures to gain financially.

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health, United States, 2002. Flegal et. al. JAMA. 2002;288:1723-7. NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, 1998.

“Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay and present it to the class in a week. You will be graded based on how convincing it is. Today we will be choosing topics,” announced Mr. Bowerbank, my 7th grade English teacher and ruler of classroom 110. My class simultaneously groaned at the prospect of work. I simply lifted my head with intrigue as it was already May and about time we had our first essay. He then proceeded to give examples of topics we could choose and gave us some time to think before we had to tell him our topic. My classmates were already rushing to tell the teacher their idea lest someone else steal it. That meant the usual abortion, death penalty, or drug use topics were out. I really couldn't think of anything and the teacher was slowly making his way through the remaining students like an executioner beheading criminals in a line. I have always thought that he would make a marvelous supervillain if he had a curly mustache, a tophat, and a cape. Eventually my name was called. I slowly dragged myself over to his desk. Even sitting down, he still seemed to tower over me. “What is your topic Cindy?” As usual in such desperate times, my mind turned to food. “Waffles are better than pancakes.” I figured that a waffle was just a differently shaped pancake with a nicer texture. “Hmm. Excellent topic. I look forward to your essay!” I survived to live yet another day.

Why spend money that is really needed for other things? Why live uncomfortably? Why be trapped in this hole called a home that belongs to another person? Why not live free and peacefully? When a person rents he or she usually throws away money that could be used to purchase something that belongs to them. Money is not easy to come by so why pay out hundreds toward something that is not benefit to the person paying it out. There is no good explanation for making a decision like this. The best option in a situation like this is to buy a house. Buying a house is a better option than renting an apartment.

Humanity would not be improved if all were to strive towards utter perfection. When we try hard to be perfect, an unattainable goal, we are bound to fail. Therefore, this inevitable “failure” shall lead to frustration and anger at ourselves though we have done nothing wrong. Should society not be taunted by this impossible goal, society as a whole will be happier and live fulfilled lives. Whereas if everyone were to be reaching for perfection, everyone’s lives would be the exact opposite. The core of our society would be filled with more stress-more than what already exists at least- as well as less contemptment with our actions. These negative emotions would result in the implementation of bad means as a result of hopelessness. People will be lead to believe that after failing so many times, the only thing left to do in order to be perfect is to not play by the rules, because when they did, it didn’t work. According to mid-twentieth century sociologist Robert Merton, “The moral mandate to achieve success thus exerts pressures to succeed, by fair means if possible and by foul means if necessary”(Robert Merton in Allenby 17). This leads to not only corruption of the individual, but corruption in society as a whole. This is due to the intense level of competition in society that is due to everyone feeling as if they must be the best and outdo those that surround them. These high levels of competition and little room for success leads to stress, depression, and people resulting to loopholes to make their way up to the top. Not only that, but even at a young age, children are being pressured to be the best. Christopher Bergland, ultra-endurance athlete, writer, and psychologist, additionally addressed cheating in his Psychology Today column (2012) when he stated, “We live in such a competitive world. From a very young age our children are taught that if they want to ‘succeed’ in life that they have to finish in the top percentile in just about every challenge they face. But not everyone can be a champion.”(Begland 6). Therefore, not only are adults affected by the pressures of competition, but children are too. If the stress piles up at an early age, then so do the bad habits which will all carry on into their