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Political Corruption And Political Scandals

Decent Essays

Corruption has always been present, not just in the government, but in other institutions too. Although corruption has always existed, it has not been prevalent nearly as much in the past as it is today. Political corruption is when people at the highest levels of the political system misuse their power in order to make private gains. Political leaders are figures that are supposed to be looked up to and are supposed to make moral and rational decisions, not like the kind of decisions that are increasingly being made today. Considering that most of these political leaders work for the government, and the government is what this country ultimately depends on, this makes for a terrible situation. A slight bit of corruption is inevitable, but it does not have to be as extreme as it is today. The Watergate scandal, the Lewinsky affair, and the corrupt bargain are political scandals that have played a huge role in defining political corruption in America, and they have had an enormous impact on trust, people, and elections. Political corruption has undermined the American public’s trust in government and politics. A recent Gallup analysis asked Americans of the confidence level that they have in their nation’s governmental institutions (Gingrich 1). According to the results, a stifling thirty percent was very confident in the Supreme Court, twenty nine percent felt positively about the Executive Office, and only seven percent felt assurance in Congress (Gingrich 1). Another

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