“If something can corrupt you, you’re corrupted already.”
Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley
I believe that many of our elected representatives have been corrupted by money from Super PACs (thanks to Citizens United) and by the influx of under-the-table, laundered money from foreign countries, large corporations, and lobbyists.
Do you agree or disagree?
Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt, which during the month of January, is also part of her Just Jot It January prompt.
This, That, and the Other 
Agree!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with Bob, they were probably already corrupted
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agree.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Existentially, it’s probably the case [while I can think of counter-arguments] that if someone can be corrupted they were already corrupt (in a sense of at least not having closely-held internal values of a high calibre, or good morals). But most people like that won’t do something materially harmful if said person doesn’t have a corrupt opportunity… or, further, a push.
When it comes to elected representatives, beyond the fact that they’re more likely to engage in something wrong if presented with an idea (all the more if it is the culture to do so), fewer corrupt people, I think, would take on — or be implanted within — the jobs if the ease of access to such opportunity and ease of pushing weren’t known to be the norm.
I agree that the Citizens United decision and dark money and under-the-table money and so forth have corrupted our system. Foreign money is also a corrupting agent… more so, here, on people who are more than a little off (for people who have been actively looking for whatever they can take). Our Constitution foresaw what foreign interests could do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If it walks like a duck…..
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thrown stones at it because they bite and hard!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Bent as a nine bob note!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I meant, but forgot, to add…
There is the question of what is corrupt.
For people who tout money as just about everything…
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are two plainly laid out questions in the opening post. Do we agree that corrupt people are corrupt, and do we agree that corrupt people have been corrupted?
There is a third question, implied, but which can go unnoticed, of what corruption is. There are even fourth and fifth and sixth questions that can be deduced. Do corrupt people exist in this world? Are all people corrupt if people can be corrupted? Should we (or do we want to) take steps to reduce or punish corrupt behavior?
I think people who define richness as goodness have been actively shaping our system in a way that others (most of us) see as corrupt.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wholeheartedly agree…. Circumstances should never change character!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t believe that people should be condemned for what they might do, the “lust in their heart” stuff. If they haven’t taken the money yet, there’s still hope they won’t. But as things stand, our system actively encourages corruption because without an enormous “war chest” of money, you can’t win an election. It sucks. The problem is, where’s the better system? Where are people freer? I don’t want an example of a small Northern European country that could be gobbled up by Putin in 5 minutes if not for our defense. Thank u, next!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. The “lust in the heart” tack tends to make life nonsensical (impractical in practice or concrete thought leading to action). Only in an abstract sense can the idea of what people contemplate or are tempted by be useful when planning law of procedure and rules (and it is difficult to keep up with what people come up with). Even if it’s a relatively small minority of folks who would in fact feel pulled to corruption of the types that ruin our system, we need to stop doing things that encourage corruption; we need to identify these.
LikeLiked by 2 people
One thing would be to overhaul the system. Each candidate gets X amount of network advertising and that’s all. No money from PACs whatsoever. No soliciting for contributions from anyone anywhere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“… law oR procedure and rules …”
“Or” is always changed to o-f 😡.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One thing would be to overhaul the system. Each candidate gets X amount of network advertising and that’s all. No money from PACs whatsoever. No soliciting for contributions from anyone anywhere.and
I think that would be good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The “and” is another random auto-typo. 😠
LikeLiked by 1 person
I saw recently that troops of people can be hired to make something look popular online. For instance, an advertising company did this to convince their customers (other companies with products or beliefs to sell) that the advertising dollars were well-spent and ought to continue (including to gauge what should be paid for past performance according to agreement as at a higher level).
Would we regulate what happens online, too? I think we could give guidance and rules for spending. But it might be hard to observe and enforce.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The answer is to take dark money out of politics and for the Supreme Court to overturn 2010’s Citizens United decision.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Worst decision ever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No question about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
At the very least, Congress could outlaw dark money.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, at the very least. But Congress won’t.
LikeLike
Corruption in any government office (or corporate office for that matter) starts at the lowest levels. The power-mongers’ focus is on rising to the top. Integrity doesn’t figure in there; it’s ambition and the hunger for control that is the motivator. As they rise through the ranks (levels of local, regional, state, federal) or through the hierarchy (line staff, mid-manager, administrator, CEO), the “favors” they have to repay to get where they are grow, and they have to keep building their power with more and more dirty deals. I daresay anyone who has gotten to the top is probably the most corrupt of all.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think Bob got it right.
LikeLiked by 1 person