By Jim Coufal
They’re everywhere! Of corruption, the FBI says, “It’s our top priority among criminal investigations—and for good reason. Public corruption poses a fundamental threat to our national security and way of life. It impacts everything from how well our borders are secured and our neighborhoods protected … to verdicts handed down in courts … to the quality of our roads, schools and other government services. And it takes a significant toll on our pocketbooks, wasting billions in tax dollars.”
Notice they are not talking about foreign terrorists but “public corruption;” that carried about by American citizens, often elected citizens, citizens elected by you and me. We have met the enemy, and it is us.
Transparency Index, a non-partisan, independent organization rated 177 countries as to the level of corruption. The countries with the least amount of corruption were Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway and Canada. As in so many indices, social democratic countries ranked best.
The U.S. was listed as the 19th least corrupt country.
The U.S. Justice Department found that, in the last two decades, 20,000 public officials and private individuals were convicted of crimes related to corruption, while 5,000 more await indictment or prosecution.
Examples from FBI reports include a St. Louis police officer convicted of civil rights abuse, including sexual abuse; in Ohio another police officer pleaded guilty to extortion; in Las Vegas an elected official was convicted of fraud and extortion for accumulating $63 million through a scheme to control home owners associations and construction contracts; and in San Diego, Motor Vehicle Department employees worked with a private auto rental agency to charge from $500 to $2,500 for drivers’ licenses for people who couldn’t obtain them legally.
A Pennsylvania state treasurer was convicted of taking $300,000 in kickbacks, and in Florida, the FBI videotaped a Florida congressman taking a $25,000 bribe. The congressman stuffed the envelope in his pocket and asked the undercover agent, “Does it show?” When confronted, the congressman said he was doing an undercover sting of his own. The jury didn’t buy it. And now we have the “Panama Papers” exposing widespread tax fraud by corporations and politicians alike.
You don’t have to look out-of-state for examples. Former Syracuse Police Sergeant Tom Connellan is being looked at for grand larceny for not reporting a second job he worked while signing time sheets saying he was on duty for the police. And think of Sheldon Silver and other state legislators who have been convicted of corruption charges in the last few years.
Harvard studied the 50 states as to the level of corruption in each of them. For New York, they found that corruption was “slightly common” in the executive, “not at all common” in the judicial, but “extremely common” in the legislative. There appears to be a consensus that corruption in local government levels occurs more than in state and federal levels because relations are more intimate and control is decentralized.
The same types of corruption occurs at all levels, including bribery, extortion, embezzlement and graft, but nepotism and patronage are more common in local government.
Lies and corruption have existed in all levels of government since the very earliest days. Experts don’t list lies as part of corruption, but they are discussed here because they contribute greatly to it. Again, an example: the federal government has been corrupted recently by using a rigged video of abortions to stop funding Planned Parenthood. At least 12 states have investigated the video and found it was doctored and PP had done nothing illegal. Republicans ignored the facts and wasted taxpayer money, while also leading to state actions based on fraudulent evidence.
It is a clear example of ‘if you are going to lie, lie often, lie loud, and lie frequently.’
Hitler did it; Donald Trump does it today.
A review of statements by presidential candidate Donald Trump found 76 of his 77 statements checked were mild to totally false. The Associated Press checked following one of the most recent Republican debacles (debates) and found Trump lied four times, and Rubio and Cruz once each. Hillary has also been found to lie.
Lying in the nomination process (and elsewhere) corrupts the system, as it panders to what voters want to hear as opposed to the facts. Research indicates people accept and act on lies because they are uncomfortable with the truth. This demonstrates that, with Trump, they want to vote for him because he loudly proclaims he tells it like it is.
To paraphrase Neil DeGrasse Tyson, facts remain true even when ignored or denied. And corruption exists because we’re not as good and true as we claim we are, perhaps recognizing if we were in those positions, we’d do it too.
Jim Coufal of Cazenovia is a part-time philosopher and full-time observer of global trends. He can be reached at madnews@m3pmedia.com.