politicians are synonymous with corruption
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Curing Corruption
Corruption in governments from local, state, and federal levels seems to be increasing, not decreasing. I stumbled onto the website of an organization named CREW, which stands for "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington". You can view this website at http://www.citizensforethics.org/
It is well worth your time to take a look at this website. They do an outstanding job of digging up and reporting facts relating to corruption of our elected representatives. It seems they may be slightly harder on the Republicans than they are the Democrats, but they report on both. The following is a quote directly from their website. "Since CREW released our first Most Corrupt report in 2005, more than half of the unethical members of Congress we've highlighted have left office," said Melanie Sloan, CREW's Executive Director. "That's a pretty good batting average, but not good enough. 26 shady politicians remain, most of whom haven't even been investigated by the congressional ethics committees. Congress must give the OCE the tools it needs to ensure that every corrupt politician is held accountable for his or her actions. In addition, the Senate would benefit from the creation of a similar office with jurisdiction to inquire into senatorial misdeeds."
I thought I was aware of most of the corruption that has and is taking place, but I learned of many new issues after reviewing this website. I'm sure most politicians would prefer not to be listed on their site, and that alone makes it valuable for them to be doing what they do. The really cool thing about this website is they state nothing but proven facts. Those politicians who make their list can't deny the statements because they are provable facts.
My question, and you know I always ask questions, Can Corruption be Cured? According to the CREW website, they are down to 26 known corrupt elected representatives. We even re-elected some of these corrupt individuals during the last election. Does that mean the voters are unaware of this corruption, or they don't care about the corruption? (Yep, another question.) I baffled as to why a voter would knowing vote for a known corrupt politician. Is it party loyalty, apathy, lack of information, or what?
I truly don't believe a Corrupt Politician can be healed. We have no magic pills to fix this flaw in their character makeup. Once corrupt, they will always be corrupt. Just like a woman can't be a little pregnant, they either are corrupt or they are not corrupt. It is refreshing to see that none of our newly elected representatives have yet made this list to my knowledge.
My opinion is the only way we will ever fix the corruption issue is to replace all of the corrupt politicians with non-corrupt politicians. I know that after I make my candidate selections for the next election I will certainly be checking the list on CREW's website to make certain they are not on the bad guy list. I suggest everyone who cares about corruption in our government do the same.
Thanks for taking the time to read this hub.
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Excellent Hub and great information. I will also share this site among my followers. I agree, the bottom line here is that there is no place for corrupt politicians anywhere in our government and leadership.
Smaller government and the ability to replace the bad eggs quickly si the only way to rid the government of corruption. Thanks for the link.
"Is it party loyalty, apathy, lack of information," I think its is a combination of the three. I have heard people say "A change for the worse would be better." Not intelligent people, but that is a real quote some one gave for their reason behind voting for Obama. My Dad always say's, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Of course he stole that quote from Baron Acton, but you get the point. People vote for corrupt politicians because they have to vote along party lines. They vote for corrupt politicians because they don't know that they are corrupt, or because they don't believe that the person is truly corrupt. In their eyes it is just the other side making up lies about the opposition... there I go with a long comment. Thanks for this hub it was awesome.
Rachel
WillStar, as always, I appreciate your comments and your wisdom. You are so very correct about the size of government being a large part of the problem.
EYM - let's hope we can make the necessary changes to achieve a smaller government. The larger the barrel the more risk of rotten apples. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
breakfastpop, it would be great if you would put out that link to the CREW website in one of your hubs. More people read your hubs than probably read the Washington Post. The more who read about the known corruption the better.
Thanks for being here and all you do for us.
Rachel, the thing I really like about the CREW website is they deal with facts, and only facts. Then when we are told things are lies, we can point them directly to the source of factual information. Party loyalty is a hard thing to overcome, in spite of factual knowledge of corruption.
Old Pool Guy
To answer your rhetorical question yes corruption can be cured; the answer is simple vote every Democrat out of office. I don't care how virtuous they may be while in campaign mode once they reach Washington they morph into Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and vote in lock step with the two. I offer you the Healthcare Bill as proof positive of my point and I offer Judas Iscariot Stupak as my poster boy. To say there is a Democrat with integrity is an oxymoronic statement!
WOW What a great hub. I did not know about this site either, but it seems if there is a place we can go to even begin to check out pre election candidates, this is a truly good thing.
And no, I do not believe that once they have become corrupt they would ever change. Which means to say, they would not want to change and how could we trust that they had changed. There is soooooooo much corruption hidden from us on a daily basis....This was a truly informative and interesting hub.
I am voting it up with the button, and awesome Thanks for telling us all about this!!!
Wealthmadehealthy, always a pleasure to get comments from you. Yes, I think visiting their website should be a prerequisite for everyone picking candidates to vote for. Unfortunately, the (D) or (R) by the candidates name seems to carry the most weight.
Can corruption be cured? Does a fat baby poo? Does a cat have climbing gear? Allow me to pimp our organization! http://housefireproject.com/ Go to the site, read up, join, and send us a bunch of money. We're going to hang a bunch of horse thieves and take our country back!
Good job Mike. Up, and useful!
jim
Term limits might help.
Thanks Jim, I hope many take you up on your invitation.
mslizzee, I could not agree more. Term Limits are almost a household word, but we never seem to move in that direction.
CREW is a site I was unaware of, thanks for the intro to it. The only thing I don't like is its' executive in charge is a lawyer herself and has had her hands in the cookie jar for years, many of the so-called scoundrels she points to have been against her or those she has woprked for in the past. To believe this site is 100% factual would be misleading as any politically oriented non-profit has political agenda's to bring money towards. The good of the site seems to be it's ability to bring to light some swept under the rug facts regarding corruption from either side of the fence. Open to interpretation.
Jeremey, I agree with you 100% and appreciate the comment. The site is obviously slanted, but I liked the fact they at least report some corruption from the other side of the fence. I can only assume most of what they publish is fairly factual. I just thought it great to find a site with that much information all in one place. I learned a few things I didn't know by reading their information. I agree that most everything presented is open to interpretation. Thanks for the comment.
Poolman,
I don't think corruption can be cured, but TERM LIMITS for ALL elected officials would be a good place to start. If they knew their time and power was limited, the folks who give money to purchase power would be somewhat curtailed.
SheriSapp, Term limits would address many problems. So many of those elected start trying to raise money for the next election the first day they sit in the chair. Many have little or no time to work on the serious problems this country is facing because of their worries about being re-elected. This also has a great deal to do with how they vote. They will vote in favor of a stupid law rather than run the risk of pissing off the people who put them in office. They are obligated to pay back favors from those who contributed heavily to their last campaign. Unions and corporations would not be so willing to invest heavily in a candidate they knew would only be around for a couple years. You are right on about term limits, but I have no idea how we would put this in place. We know in advance none of those currently in office would vote for term limits.
Thanks for your comment.
It seems to me Poolman that the words corruption and politician have become synonymous with each other. The old "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" syndrome continues as we watch, for those of us who are watching anyway.
Many voters are apathetic about doing the research on the people who they elect. They walk into that voting booth and look for the (D) or (R) by a name and that's enough for them. Heck of a way to pick your candidate but we all know it happens.
FP, that not only happens, it appears to be the most popular method of candidate selection. As long as we have this two party system, it will probably remain the most popular unless we can get people to wake up and see what is going on.
And please remember, the message so many believe. Corporations and Rich People pay no taxes. I have no idea how we would change this thinking.
Dealing with the power of Corps and their CEO's would go a long way in reducing corruption, IMO.
But with their ability to influence people to vote to expand their power instead, that may be easier said than done.
I agree, but we also need to deal with the power and money of Unions while doing this. It is a crime that political campaigns are so expensive that candidates have to take money from outside sources, and then owe favors to pay it back. This works on both sides of the aisle, and needs to go away. Term limits, elimination of lobbyists, and campaign spending limits would serve us all well. Under the present system, we invite corruption and we get it.
Old Poolman:
The power of corps has FAR, FAR, exceeds the power of unions, IMO.
I would say they are about the same, but you are certainly entitled to your opinion. It would be better if they would both stay out of politics.
Old:
I will say that for the last, 30 years, corps have had the better of the fight. But what happened in Wisconsin may have been just the spark that Labor needed. See my hub '(Re)organized Labor' for a plan to turn that spark into a light.
For many of those 30 years you refer to, the Dems had control of the house and the senate. Did they go along with this outrage you are so hung up on? Who are you really ticked off at? The Republicans, the Democrats, the Tea Party, the government, or all of them? Labor Unions were very necessary at one time, and did a fine job. I have been a member of several unions and was proud of it. But like with many things, they have gained too much power, and it is time for them to step back a bit. Can you honestly say the Teachers Union is doing a great job for the education of our children? If so, why have we degraded to #25 in world ranking? Could it be partly because teachers can't be fired even if they are lousy teachers? I have no idea how old you are, or what your background is, but you need to look at the big picture and not single out one mantra that you spout over and over. Unions and Corps is your bag but never with any facts. Hit us with some provable facts and I will be most happy to look at your side of any issue. This is not meant as a put down and I appreciate you stopping by and leaving your comments.
OP
Good question.
dI also think that you have to look at the system itself. I believe that the system is corrupt and when you find members that are corrupt you have only uncovered the very dumb ones. The smart ones can't be surfaced that easily because they are one with the system.
If they are corrupt but follow the system, then the system will protect them. To us the public, everyone one of them looks pretty much the same, except for the really stupid ones that we find.
They are like the roaches that you see when you turn on the lights. Killing them doesn't stop the infestation because they got away into the system.
rated up and useful
OP, thanks for the comment and what you say makes a great deal of sense. I wish everyone could understand that.
In the Philippines the word for a bribe it "tong" and they talk of a senatong and a tongressman.
In the USA it has to be Senator Sweetener (representing coproration A) and Congressman Corruption (representing coproration B) - the misspellings are deliberate and you will spot them if you have any smattering of Greek.
In the UK it is the member for Bribery North on the left and the Member for Corruption Central both questioning the minister for Plain Brown Envelopes.
I think I know of ONE honest politician, not in any of these countries, and not in national government, and they are leaving the game.
AlexK2009 - Thanks for the interesting comment. I guess no matter where they live, most politicians eventually succumb to corruption and greed. It would most likely take a new law that both the giver and receiver of a bribe would receive exactly the same punishment before much will change. More frequent changing of politicians by term limits would reduce but not eliminate the problems with corruption.
WillStarr Level 8 Commenter 14 months ago
The larger the government, the more opportunities for corruption.
The way to reduce corruption is to drastically reduce the size, scope, and power of government. It is probably too late. Government is now so large and corruption in government is now so entrenched that it may require a revolution to clean out the rats and their rat holes.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.