Political Corruption And Political Scandals

Corruption has no place in our government, period. The American people have a right to hold their elected officials to high ethical standards, and when their elected officials fail to meet such standards, the people have a responsibility to hold them accountable. In addition to standing for election every two years, Congress has ethics committee procedures it can utilize to censure or otherwise reprimand members who violate the rules. Members of Congress have to abide by the same laws as everyone else, and when laws are broken, they should be held accountable.

This erosion of public trust was exemplified by the Watergate scandal, which unfolded in the early 1970s and sent shockwaves throughout the country. The scandal revealed the extent of political corruption and malfeasance within the highest levels of government, including the Nixon administration. Document 4 by Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” 1979 claims “Our people are losing faith,. We were sure our was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr”, “We respected the presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate.” This clearly shows that the citizens no longer had trust and respect toward the government.

Donney and Canon (1997) suggests that the construction of organizational trust involves a calculative process based on the ability of the institution to continue to meet its obligations and on an estimation of the costs versus rewards received. The organizational political trust can be further subdivided into two types of trust: diffuse or system-based trust and specific or institution-based trust. While the former refers to the general public’s evaluation of the performance of the political system as a whole, the latter concerns certain political institutions, such as the Congress. In other words, to study citizens’ trust in the institutions of government, we look at their judgments about the commitment of their government to the task of representation. Citizens have access to various information sources to assess the trustworthiness of their government, one of which is through how they perceive the government to be

After the American Revolution the newly independent colonies entered a period called the critical Period. This was called the critical period because the colonies faced many foreign and domestic issues. This called for an end to the Articles of Confederation and the creation of a new government.

Even though political trust downturn fluctuates overtime due to tremendous factors, the greater scope on time span can show the gradual decline. Because of this fact, Dalton (2009) believes that the government has become less trustworthy among the public. To address the initial problems, according to Dalton (2009), other researchers generally points out the three problems: the set of scandals and various legislative process, the media and the democracy itself . Nevertheless, Dalton (2009) argues that the consistency between the decline in political trust and the explanations from the other researchers is not relevant.

Elissa Nunez of NBC News reports that 64% of Americans believe that the big money in politics discourages many great candidates from running (Nunez). On top of this number, 76% of people believe that "money has a greater influence on politics and elected officials today than in the past," (Nunez). These numbers lead to a fundamental issue in our government; a huge distrust in our federal government. Only a month after 9/11, 60% of citizens said they could trust the federal government, however, following the Iraq war and an economic downturn the number dropped to a mere 24% in 2007

Corruption can come from many different people. When the same group of people are always in government it becomes a situation where this group of people runs government. And when someone wants to be elected they might do whatever the group of people wants to be in there favor. The Federalist paper number 68 it says “He might otherwise be tempted to sacrifice his duty to his complaisance for those whose favor was necessarily to the duration of his official consequence” (Hamilton). There are also people from foreign countries that want to be the leader of America just for the benefit of their home country. They

Tulia, a small town in Texas of just under five-thousand people, is a frightening example of how the judicial system is governed solely by racism as well as one corrupt man’s word. In 1999, nearly ten percent of the town’s African American population was arrested in a single drug bust. Of the forty-six people arrested, thirty-eight were African-American, furthermore all were convicted. The remaining seven arrested where know to associate more with the black community than the white in Tulia as well. With the towns income levels averaging at or below the poverty line, most arrested could not afford to hire a good attorney that cared or had the time to care, left therefore with one provided by the state. Consequently, convictions were up to ninety years in jail for allegedly selling three and a half grams, more commonly known as an eight ball, of cocaine in drug-free zones. In was only on appeals, that the convictions where revoked on insubstantial evidence.

I feel that people are biased when giving an answer to this question. Because of their political party affiliation someone might be inclined to say that the economy is simply bad because the president is affiliated with a party which is not their own. For example a democrat might say that the economy is bad because we have a republican president, but in reality this may not be the case. For this reason I like using tangible evidence when forming my own opinion. Currently I feel that the economy is stable. By referring to local business in my area I’ve noticed an increase in new stores and commercial areas being built. To me this means more jobs and a better economy for the immediate community. However I have noticed an increase in Cyclical

The public trust in government has declined over the years, and now the people think they can do little to influence the government actions. According to the book We the people by Benjamin Ginsberg, in 2013 only 19 percent of americans reported trusting the government with their decisions in Washington. On the contrary, compare to 1960s and 1970s americans had a lot of more respect and trust for the american government due to the fact that the government did what was best for the people. But now, the trust that his great nation once had has been declining in a

The Simpsons writers in the television show, “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish”, explains that there is corruption for those in power and it can be easy for those in power to become corrupt.

Do we elect officials to do what is right for ourselves, or to do whatever is better for the country as a whole? On the other hand, do they act in the most popular manner in order to secure their own re-election hopes? The two-party system is in continuous lockout. One party wants reform but another will try to block it just to show the public how incompetent they are without showing the truth. This paper will outline cases why the American Public should trust or distrust the Federal Government.

“Corruption, improper and usually unlawful conduct intended to secure a benefit for oneself or another its forms include bribery, extortion, and the misuse of inside information. It exists where there is community indifference or a lack of enforcement policies.”(Encyclopedia Britannica). Today political Corruption in all forms exists in every country in the world. In some countries it is more prominent then in others, but no matter where you go it still occurs. Recently in mid 2013 some political corruption was brought to light in New York. “Since 2007, state senators have been more likely to be arrested then to lose their seats in a general election,” (New York Public Interest Research group). In April of 2013 New York State

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).

The unlawful use of a person’s position while in power leads to multiple problems with today’s government. The corrupt methods politicians use are ideas that are strictly in place for personal gain. Present throughout history and still prevalent within today’s world, government corruption has consisted of a number of negative issues including bribery, economic and social impacts, and the misuse of power. Government’s role within daily life has been shown to have negative effects as seen in many aspects of life as well as in literature.