We don't have a chat thread (although they all generally end up there..) so I figured this was as good a place as any.
An interesting little article on the ABC's ([I]Australian[/I] Broadcasting Commission) web site.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/sami-shah-takes-aim-at-political-lobbying/7526928
That's a fair read, but no surprise. It's a simple formula, really:
money => lobbyists => political influence => gain
On the local level, its corrupt people in power who require a little inducement; on the national level, it's corruption on a massive scale, although none dare call it that, and those who are "bought" demand perpetual payment. They rarely stay bought.
Reform is impossible; those who benefit from the corruption make the laws, interpret the laws, and enforce the laws. Not even a massive voter revolt would have lasting effect. Throwing new bodies into a cesspit produces nothing but more corrupted bodies.
In the US, the primary vehicle of corruption is partisan politics, which demands total party allegiance and retention of power, denigrating the needs of the nation.
The root cause that fuels the vehicle of corruption is human nature: personal ambition, avarice, lust for power, and fear of retribution, to name a few.
The example of Richard Nixon and events leading to his resignation to escape certain impeachment are noteworthy only in the fact that he was so immersed in the game that he forgot one basic tenet of US politics: you're supposed to hide it all. Nixon came to assume that everyone had accepted how the game was played. He was incredulous at hearing the panoply of moralists decrying his administration's political tactics. After all, a clever President worships at the altar of deniability: Nixon forgot that. He was perhaps the last of the truly honest Presidents. When he said, "I am not a crook!" he truly believed it. He just meant that all high-level politicians are bent, malleable SOB's that point into any favorable wind, regardless of the direction.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons for the success of Vice Presidents when elevated to the Presidency. They didn't have to be all that bent to get to be VP. I point to Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman as examples. Of course Nixon's VP was Spiro Agnew so there are a few rotten apples in the VP barrel. At least the one who actually succeeded Nixon was a respected congressman and while he didn't reach the level of the first three I mentioned, he didn't do anything wrong I am aware of.
except for being the clumsiest President we ever had. This dude was almost taken out by one of those old camera flash bulbs for Heaven's sake!
Oh and he was on the Warren commission, who perpertrated the biggest lie ever on the American public!
Other than that, he was ok. (sarcasm)
