The Negative Effects Of Government Corruption

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.

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.

Corruption is when the Government is bribed by interest groups or corporations so that the bribers’ interests are put forward before the interest of the people. During the Gilded Age corruption in the senate was rampant. According to the political cartoon “The bosses of Senate”- (Progress and Poverty, 324), the corporations were the real entities behind running the Senate. The Senate, as the cartoon shows, is acting only in the interests of the different monopolies that are bribing the senate. However, this does not neccesarily mean that the Government cannot act in the intersts of its own people.

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:

People search far and wide all the time to find the truth. According to Shana Lebowitz, “humans actually judge people psychologically based on their face, if they are able to trust another person” (P1). Americans in-particular have had an issue all throughout their country with both corruption and money flooding their political system ultimately preventing positive social change. The questions on campaign finance reform stems in two very different directions in political debate. One, is “Money Free Speech?" Two does it actually promote corruption like some political observers say and if so can it be stopped? Politian’s are first and foremost supposed to be a servant to the people regardless of their background, not to business and or themselves.

One major point that there is corruption in the United States Government is all the scandals that have occurred in the past. One of the most known is the Watergate Scandal. This occurred during Richard Nixon’s presidency. Nixon was drove from office before he could be impeached for obstruction justice.(Grossman) ”Although no one in power profited financially from the matter, Watergate nonetheless is perhaps the most egregious example of political corruption because of the effect it had in subverting the political process.” “Responding to a request from

Political corruption in the United States is present an at least one of the three branches of government in all fifty states but is most common in the Legislative branch. Ending political corruption is nearly impossible because public officials will always find a loophole in the existing laws but reducing corruption is possible. The most efficient way to dramatically reducing political corruption is by targeting the Legislative branch of the United States government. Two members of Congress are trying to exactly do that by proposing a law, At the federal level, that would impose term limits on members of Congress. Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Ron DeSantis are both pushing an amendment to be added to the United States Constitution which would impose term limits on members of the House of Representative and the Senate. Political corruption in the legislative branch of the federal government is a problem because members of Congress will favor special interest rather than their constituent. A law that was passed at the federal level to try solving this problem is the “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act” and a proposed law at the state level Ohio "Strengthening Term Limits on State Legislators" Amendment but both laws don't go far enough. By Imposing term limits on Congress it will help reduce political corruption because it will constantly bring new faces to Congress which will make it harder for special interest to have a “grip” on Congress. Congressional term

Government corruption has been going on for too long and only got worse when President Obama walked into office. The people haven’t seen freedom in this country for a long time. We have been lied to many times and the people have been brainwashed by false information by the media. America has increased in corruption, the email scandal with Hillary Clinton, and Obama wanting to pardon Hillary.

The United States Federal Government is based off of a system of checks and balances. This system keeps the three branches of government from getting too powerful, but unfortunately, it cannot control the intent of politicians who are working in these branches. Focusing on Congress, we continually see gridlock, ideological polarization, and general dysfunction as a result of lack of proper intention and corruption in our group of representatives.

In order to prevent governmental corruption and ensure empathetic representation of the common American population, we propose that those elected into any federal government office should live on the yearly income of the average American with an advanced degree.

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.

Even though crossing the border was a dangerous decision, the Welton 26 still risked their lives to illegally migrate because the corruption of the Mexican government affects their lifestyle, limited opportunities for survival, and to get better financial opportunities in the United States of

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

Political corruption has existed throughout the ages. It believed to be most prominent in positions of power, because of the role money plays in getting people power. However, over the centuries, corruption has changed so much so as to not match a particular definition of corruption, perpetually growing deceptively harder to find (Ebbe).

Corruption is a complex political, social, and economic anomaly that negatively affects developing and developed countries. It weakens democratic institutions, holds economic development, widening the rich-poor gap and certainly leads to governmental instability. The World Bank definition of corruption states that “…the abuse of public office for private gain”.