The American Brand Of Corruption

THE CENTURION CHRONICLE
Special Issue – May 2010

America’s brand of corruption is genteel in style, but stealth, in effect. They call it –influence – or – influence peddling –.

Unlike many other countries it’s not blatantly crude, and generally has no direct exchange of political favor….for cash. That would be too gauche, instead, such exchanges take the form of “contributions” to election campaigns. The larger those “contributions”, the greater “access” and “influence” private and special interests can have with elected officials, particularly with those holding legislative office, because these write the laws and enact the regulations which such interests might either want – or not- in their favor.

The insidious aspects of such a process is that it permeates every level of governance, from city, to county, to state, and federal levels. Granted, there are strong laws on the books against such practices, but, these are rarely invoked, and few penalties, either financial or criminal, are ever applied to those who violate them. Meanwhile, the flow of freebie junkets to posh golf courses, resorts, and hotels, free uses of private jets or a yacht or two, continues unabated.

It’s thus a national embarrassment when one of our high officials publicly chides other countries for their “corrupt” practices. To call it hypocrisy is the kindest thing that can be said about such posturing. It’s truly hutzpah of the highest order.

Of course, we have to admit that our American brand of corruption has a certain amount of sophisticated cachet and effective design which few other countries can match. After all, we’re the light of the world, so there’s no way our brand of corruption can be anything but the best and slickest in the world.

And the reason why this is so is because we, the taxpaying voters of our country, have allowed our officials unlimited terms in office, and, adopted the attitude of a late former partner of mine. As he explained it, he kept voting for the same corrupt politician over and over again because:”Hell, I don’t care if he’s a crook….as long as he remains….my crook!”

CENTURION