Why Do Political Machines Have Corrupt Power

Big business not only monopolized the economy, but also caused unprecedented corruption in the political system. Joseph Keppler’s “The Bosses of the Senate” political cartoon in Puck depicts the massive corruption in the political system as he claims that the Senate no longer served the people, but the industrial tycoons (document 4). The American people responded to this by forming political and economic organizations in an attempt to curb the control of the large

As seen in Document C, in 1887, a labor leader illustrated the enormous amount of control large corporations had not just in the American economy, but also in American society as a whole, specifically in politics. The amount of control and influence these businesses had on politics was massive. As seen in Document D, Joseph Keppler’s political cartoon from 1889, shows the massive corruption in the political system to the degree that he stated that the U.S. Senate was no longer for the people, but now for the big business monopolies. The American people responded to the unrivaled influence of corporations in politics by forming political and economic organizations that were intended to restrain the monumental influence of big

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.

Bernie Sanders once said, “A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little” (“Bernie Sanders Quotes”). He was the runner up for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He seemed to be bringing forth a new era for the Democrats, one that would have been anti-corporation and would finally pass an effective Universal Health Care. Unfortunately for him , big business and the establishment Democrats won again. This election serves as a good example of the Democratic party - a party whose history goes from supporting slavery to enforcing justice and acting as a vessel for change, all the while sprinkled with corporate corruption.

Machine politicians were an influential factor to urban cities during the wave of immigration. During this era, immigrants were unfamiliar with the urban lifestyle and assimilation was strenuous. It is apparent that Machine politicians helped impoverished immigrants gain a sense of cohesion within a community. For instance, Machine politicians sponsored local events such as picnics, youth clubs, baseball teams, and choirs for immigrants to divert from pubs. This local party organization became an essential institution for the community. Likewise, Machine politicians represented working class Americans, mainly consisting of lower-class immigrants. These groups were supported politically by the machines, which served their interests and helped

The political machines were detrimental to the turn of the century in American Society. Bosses used naturalization for personal gain of votes and support, had complete control over money and the cities, and corrupted governments. Thus, political machines did not benefit American society.

In Nicholas Kristof’s article “America’s Stacked Deck,” his main point is to inform readers about the rigged economic system. Kristof presents this problem by addressing the faults with both political parties. He claims that majority of people represented by the political system are wealthy and explains that the changes being made do not benefit ordinary people. Kristof reassures his readers that they have a right to be angry and demand change, but blaming somebody is not the way to seek a solution. Kristof suggests that targeting solutions is more logical and beneficial than participating in scapegoats. He depicts that reducing the influence of money in politics is a starting point that must be orchestrated, while also reducing inequality. He persuades the readers to

There has been a lot of fuss over big business influencing the government in the United States lately. Now there is no doubt that the business elite have some influence on politics. It can even be traced back to the early 1900’s, when “the People’s Party had disintegrated, but many writers and activists have continued to echo the Populists’ central thesis: that the U.S. democratic political system is in fact dominated by business elites” (). Although there are countless arguments to go against this idea, the questions still comes up today: Is government dominated by big business? Political Scientist G. William Domhoff believes that government is dominated by big business. More specifically, Domhoff believes that owners and top-level managers in income-producing properties are not only dominant power figures in the US, but they also have inordinate influence in the federal government (). Another political scientist however, Sheldon Kamieniecki, believes otherwise. He states that businesses do not really get involved in policies that affect them; and even when they do, their success rate at influencing policies is not consistent. In fact, he believes that other factions have more influence on government policies ().

Political party machines helped the poor and new immigrants by help creating a safe environment for their culture to hang out like bars, parks, and special events to enjoy. They also do great gesture to the immigrants and expect favors in return like campaign events at their bar or hotel. Two examples, Judd and Swanstorm present to bust this myths were the machines were selfish. They did not support any one that get in the way of immigrants’ votes. They did not like reform even if it helps the working class. Another one was the Progressive era where there was a generation of reforms that helped improve the immigrants life form and work. They end up supporting both the working class immigrants and middle-class voters.

I highly recommend watching the liberal progressive documentary currently streaming on Netflix, “Requiem for the American Dream;” detailing how business capitalists are exploiting the average American citizen and eliminating class mobility in the process. If you haven’t been following this argument, it’s essentially the underlying message of the Bernie Sanders’ movement, and is fundamentally true; as there has generally been an unfavorable trend over the last 50 years working against labor (middle class) in its struggle with the wealthy over power. As a matter of fact, did you know our founding fathers initially created the Senate as an appointed political body to be occupied by the wealthy and tasked with balancing the inevitable tendency

There is a new welfare queen on the block and this one is richer, bigger and even greedier than any account of the 1990s welfare queens that led to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, which hampered the ability for the 90s narrative of welfare queens to become a reality. The new welfare queen is Wal-Mart and it is costing the American taxpayer a substantial sum each year. Each year Wal-Mart costs the American taxpayer $2.66 billion dollars in government assistance or approximately $420,000 per store. At this same time CEO Mike Dukes earn more money in one hour than one of his associates will earn in a year and Wal-Mart raked in 15 billion dollars worth of annual profit. These substantial earnings that the Wal-Mart elites have been raking in have come with the expense of hard-earned American taxpayer dollars being used to subsidize one of the richest corporations in the world. This is greed and should even be considered theft, as Wal-Mart can certainly pay their workers more an hour, but chooses not to. Rather, Wal-Mart chooses to steal taxpayer dollars to subsidize low wages, healthcare and other safety net programs for their employees. In this analytical paper, I plan to discuss the Wal-Mart issue as a whole and would like to delve into the corruption of Wal-Mart in Maine. The issue of Wal-Mart and its corrupt practices affects the entire country, but as we all know, what affects this country, also affects Maine and the Wal-Mart issue is no

Since the beginning of American history, those who are wealthy with, who have connections, and who are privileged, have the most control/influence over who gets elected into office. These people are the business owing, monopoly owning, type of people. These are the people who have thousands even millions to put into an election, in order to help candidates gain popularity points. No, this is not fair because not everybody has thousands or millions to waste on an election, but that is they things go. The way that we can unite, and come together as citizens is to go against these big businesses and business men.

Many years since the mid-eighteenth century society in America have created order by which making a government under a constitutional protection of property and freedom to establish control. America’s famous democracy has sparked major controversy since the late 1930s, when president Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined, “Its the control of government by big corporations.” Big businesses including oil companies, Nestle, and Kraft control the government, which the government controls the American people. This problem ripples from one side to another like dominos falling in a staight line. America has the highest child poverty, highest adult poverty, highest unemployment rate, with a crumbling public structure - however, huge multi-billionaire

The government in the United States supposedly revolves around American ideals such as equality and diversity; however, this is simply not the case as perpetuated by class inequalities. The meaning of democracy has been skewed in the United States to represent something entirely different than it did in 1776. Today, American democracy behaves more like an aristocracy, where the upper class exercises power within the government and state, influencing discourse and therefore the laws and resources in our country, which are purportedly “for the people”. Democracy is presumed to provide everyone with equal political power, but the government in today’s America, although seemingly following this ideal model, does not. Instead, the elite upper class has a monopoly over the political influence and are the sole benefactors from public policies due to their influence over the policy making process. The upper class has an overall benefit from class inequality, as it greatly impacts American ‘democracy’ through the significant power gained through money and status, leadership roles that impact government, and the influence in the policymaking process that creates upper class advantages.

Washington today is a place that scares me, myself, and I. Recent events suggest that the government is gaining more control within the system, and power is the leader of all corruptness. The idea of being corrupt has been around for many years, and has created many significant problems including Watergate, 9/11, and the Benghazi Scandals. In this election cycle for President we even have a self-proclaimed socialist running for President in Bernie Sanders. Within the ideas of individual thinking today America is controlled by large corporations, and interest groups. Election are bought by the 1%, and speaking of the 1% almost all of America’s wealth is controlled by one out of every one-hundred persons. This is exactly what Hayek discusses