# *Why Is American Government So Corrupted?*



## chesswarsnow (Apr 17, 2011)

Sorry bout that,


1. Because they can.
2. Because they are greedy.
3. Because they are self serving bastards.
4. Because they fear no one.
5. Because our political parties are not addressing this.
6. Everyone is blind to it.
7. Just proves people are really much much more stupid than they will admit.
8. Read all about it *HERE*:


" Congressional Reform Act of  2011   The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days    to be ratified!  Why?  Simple!  The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.   Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.   I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.   In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.  This is    one idea that really should be passed around.   Congressional Reform Act of    2011   1.. Term Limits. 12 years only, one of the possible options below..     A. Two Six-year Senate    terms     B. Six Two-year House terms     C. One Six-year    Senate term and three Two-Year House terms   2..  No Tenure / No Pension.     A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of         office.   3.. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security..   All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.  All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.   4.. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.   5.. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise or fall by the lower of CPI or 3%.   6.. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.   7.. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.   8.. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.     The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.  Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.   Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.  The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.   If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.  Maybe it is time.   THIS    IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!  "



Regards,
SirJamesofTexas


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## editec (Apr 17, 2011)

Two primary reasons both of them having to do with the SCOTUS.

1. They gave _corporations the same rights as citizens_

2. They decided that _money = FREE SPEECH._

Those two anti-demoractic findings by the SCOTUS have scuttled the democracy part of this Republica and turned our governments into handmaidens for the extremely affluent.


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## spectrumc01 (Apr 17, 2011)

We the people have no balls.


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## Mr Liberty (Apr 17, 2011)

editec said:


> Two primary reasons both of them having to do with the SCOTUS.
> 
> 1. They gave _corporations the same rights as citizens_
> 
> ...



So, make it illegal to receive any campaign contributions from anyone.  No free Lear Jet rides.  No funded fact finding vacations.  Nada. Zip.  That and the proposal by the OP should change things.


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## martybegan (Apr 17, 2011)

If you want to see real government corruption you have to go overseas. Comparing american political corruption to that in places like Africa and the ME is like comparing a T-ball player to A-Rod. 

At least our politicians have to hide it.


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## sparky (Apr 26, 2011)

Not so much as they _used _to hide it>

Before Citizens United, federal election law allowed a company like Koch Industries to talk to officers and shareholders about whom to vote for, but not to talk with employees about whom to vote for, explains Paul M. Secunda, associate professor of law at Marquette University. But according to Secunda, who recently wrote in The Yale Law Journal Online about the effects of Citizens United on political coercion in the workplace, the decision knocked down those regulations. Now, companies like Koch Industries are free to send out newsletters persuading their employees how to vote. *They can even intimidate their employees into voting for their candidates. Secunda adds, Its a very troubling situation.*

The Kochs were major supporters of the Citizens United case; they were also chief sponsors of the Tea Party and major backers of the anti-Obamacare campaign. Through their network of libertarian think tanks and policy institutes, they have been major drivers of unionbusting campaigns in Wisconsin, Michigan and elsewhere

Big Brothers: Thought Control at Koch | The Nation


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## martybegan (Apr 26, 2011)

sparky said:


> Not so much as they _used _to hide it>
> 
> Before Citizens United, federal election law allowed a company like Koch Industries to talk to officers and shareholders about whom to vote for, but not to talk with employees about whom to vote for, explains Paul M. Secunda, associate professor of law at Marquette University. But according to Secunda, who recently wrote in The Yale Law Journal Online about the effects of Citizens United on political coercion in the workplace, the decision knocked down those regulations. Now, companies like Koch Industries are free to send out newsletters persuading their employees how to vote. *They can even intimidate their employees into voting for their candidates. Secunda adds, Its a very troubling situation.*
> 
> ...



So they basically got the same abilities unions have been using for decades? Terrible, terrible indeed.


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## editec (Apr 26, 2011)

martybegan said:


> sparky said:
> 
> 
> > Not so much as they _used _to hide it>
> ...


 
Many of us left and right agree that unions ALSO ought to be prevented from taking positions and supporting parties, too.

So yes I agree with you the outcome of allowing corporations (union corporations or otherwise) to insinuate themselves into the political scene is a terrible mistake for the American PEOPLE.

But allowing that DOES benefit BIG CAPITAL as we can se easily see if we look at what's been ahppening to our economy over the last five decades.


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## sparky (Apr 26, 2011)

_egggg_zactly.............


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## martybegan (Apr 26, 2011)

editec said:


> martybegan said:
> 
> 
> > sparky said:
> ...



The problem becomes that pesky first amendment. 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

No where does it say "unless you decide to group up in a union, or as stockholders in a corporation, in that case, kindly shut the hell up."  I just brought out the union thing as a balance example. 

The reasons people want to limit corporate or union spending are understandable, but by being part of said organization you do not give up your rights listed above. 

I know our process of funding needs to be fixed, but it has to be constitutionally valid, a tough problem to be sure.


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## lehr (Jun 5, 2011)

its called DEMOKRATS !


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## Charles_Main (Jun 5, 2011)

editec said:


> Two primary reasons both of them having to do with the SCOTUS.
> 
> 1. They gave _corporations the same rights as citizens_
> 
> ...



Actually no the did not decide that money = Free speech. They Ruled that spending money to buy ads is Free speech. When you libs are ready to strip Democrat Special Interest Groups like the Unions, of their right to spend and buy ads. Then we can talk about doing the same to cooperation's. You know those big bad evil Cooperation's who are owned by Millions of American Stock Holders. Those ones.


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## rdean (Jun 5, 2011)

Depends on how you define corrupt.  Many Americans like subsidies to oil companies and Health Care CEO's getting a hundred million dollars.


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## Wolfmoon (Jun 8, 2011)

*Because We Let Them Be!!!*


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## whitehall (Jun 8, 2011)

"American government so corrupted". Neo-socialists and real socialists have been using that phrase or a similar phrase with better english for decades when they think they have a shot at political revolution. They tried in the 30's, the 60's and they think they have a really good shot today. It ain't true of course. America is the greatest system of government on the globe. We get to hire and fire congress people every two years and senators every six years and even the president every four years. If we get crooks from time to time it's up to us to fire them. God bless America.


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## mike beev (Jun 8, 2011)

We need a constitutional ammendment: "Corporations are not people or citizens and money is not speech".


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## Jessica Blume (Jun 8, 2011)

Is is corrupted because we let a bunch of Zionists get control of our nation's monetary supply through their corrupt tool known as the federal reserve.


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## whitehall (Jun 8, 2011)

mike beev said:


> We need a constitutional ammendment: "Corporations are not people or citizens and money is not speech".



One (M) in Amendment mike. Corporations  R us. Anyone can incorporate. The supreme court has determined that money is speech regardless if it comes from right or left wing sources. It's ironic that the left wing sees nothing wrong with the Soros propaganda machine being tax exempt but they want to restrict the right of citizens to donate to politicians and political causes they like.


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## Jessica Blume (Jun 8, 2011)

mike beev said:


> We need a constitutional ammendment: "Corporations are not people or citizens and money is not speech".



Corporations were practically illegal 100 years ago. It was Rockefeller who changed the laws. Before, you had to prove you were working within the best interests of the United States, and then were only given a charter for ten years. Rockefeller convinced New Hampshire to allow him to operate against the best interests of the United States by paying more in taxes. Later, he went to Delaware and showed them how much New Hampshire was making. Delaware undercut the other state, and that is why most corporates are now founded in Delaware, regardless of place of origin.


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## dilloduck (Jun 8, 2011)

mike beev said:


> We need a constitutional ammendment: "Corporations are not people or citizens and money is not speech".



But money talks in America. How would you change that reality ? Even wampum would get ya a fish or something.


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## Lars (Jun 9, 2011)

The Government is corrupt because the people vote for it.


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## California Girl (Jun 9, 2011)

Because 'we, the People' allow them to be.


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## Colin (Jun 9, 2011)

Show me a government in the world that isn't corrupt. Why do people become politicians? To serve the people? No! They enter politics to serve themselves by lining their pockets and feathering their nests through devious means.


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## theDoctorisIn (Jun 9, 2011)

Government is corrupt because it takes millions of dollars to run for office, and it takes political favors to get the money.


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## midcan5 (Jun 9, 2011)

Why is this so hard to fathom, they are just people and most people do what favors their position in work life and politics. They do what they are used to doing, what fits their worldview, a view created rather than real. I have been reading a bunch of material on the revolutionary period and oddly it seems nothing has changed, or maybe we are back to the period of another kind of plutocracy, the wealthy and the British ruled the servants and the slaves. But it's so much nicer now.  At least for most. 

"Moreover, if we give the matter a moment's thought, we can see that the 20th century morality tale of 'socialism vs. freedom' or 'communism vs. capitalism' is misleading. Capitalism is not a political system; it is a form of economic life, compatible in practice with right wing dictatorships (Chile under Pinochet), left-wing dictatorships (contemporary China), social-democratic monarchies (Sweden), and plutocratic republics (the United States), whether capitalist economies thrive best under conditions of freedom is perhaps more of an open question than we like to think." Tony Judt 'Ill fares the Land'

"For anyone born after 1945, the welfare state and its institutions were not a solution to earlier dilemmas: they were simply the normal conditions of life - and more than a little dull.  The baby boomers, entering university in the mid sixties, had only ever known the world of improving life chances, generous medical and educational services, optimistic prospects of a upward social mobility and - perhaps above all - an indefinable but ubiquitous sense of security. The goals of an earlier generation of reformers were no longer of interest to their successors. On the contrary they were increasingly perceived as restrictions upon the self-expression and freedom of the individual." Tony Judt 'Ill Fares the Land' [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Fares-Land-Tony-Judt/dp/1594202761/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: Ill Fares the Land (9781594202766): Tony Judt: Books[/ame]


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## editec (Jun 9, 2011)

Mr Liberty said:


> editec said:
> 
> 
> > Two primary reasons both of them having to do with the SCOTUS.
> ...


 
Now, thanks to the SCOTUS, that will take the *ratification of the Constitution*


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## Douger (Jun 9, 2011)

You idiots voted for it.
The Jews Who Run Congress | Real Zionist News


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## sparky (Jun 9, 2011)

whitehall said:


> "American government so corrupted". Neo-socialists and real socialists have been using that phrase or a similar phrase with better english for decades when they think they have a shot at political revolution. They tried in the 30's, the 60's and they think they have a really good shot today. It ain't true of course. America is the greatest system of government on the globe. We get to hire and fire congress people every two years and senators every six years and even the president every four years. If we get crooks from time to time it's up to us to fire them. God bless America.





Uh Huh, so how's that workin' out then?


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## lehr (Jun 10, 2011)

Mr Liberty said:


> editec said:
> 
> 
> > Two primary reasons both of them having to do with the SCOTUS.
> ...



communist demokrat senators traded their votes for money to give komrade obama national healthcare - that had nothing to do with health !


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## Yoda (Jun 10, 2011)

Because it's politics. Politics by nature is corrupt in some way. At least were not Ecuador. Jezz!


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## hjmick (Jun 10, 2011)

Just when I thought no one was going to blame the Jews, I got to page two. Kind of surprised it took that long...

Some of you people are so damn predictable...


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## mike beev (Jun 11, 2011)

Because citizens vote once every two years and don't get otherwise involved, and paid lobbyists work seven days a week.  The election is a show; the real work is done when most of us arn't looking.


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## medgette (Apr 3, 2012)

The politicians of America lie,cheat and steal the people of America are blinded by patriotism and stupidity maybe it is the toxic additives in our food causing the stupidity of Americans.


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## Katzndogz (Apr 3, 2012)

Even Ben Franklin saw the day when Americans would demand a despotic government.


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## Huey (Apr 3, 2012)

The majority of the crooks in Congress are white.No wonder its so crooked.


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## Mr. Jones (Apr 9, 2012)

martybegan said:


> If you want to see real government corruption you have to go overseas. Comparing american political corruption to that in places like Africa and the ME is like comparing a T-ball player to A-Rod.
> 
> At least our politicians have to hide it.


No they don't. The American people hide it from themselves by turning a blind eye and voting for who they think is the least corrupted political whore and hope for things to change.
The only way things will change is for there to be an active and UNITED effort by the people against the establishment BS, but that wont happen until there is no more false hope and wait n see attitude.
We should vote all the incumbents out and cast votes for those candidates that are not backed by the corporations or entities overseas, AKA as Big Money.
Of course that will only work when we demand a change to the current electronic voting system.
But the #1 reason American politics is so corrupted is because of money, and comparing them to other nations isn't right as we should be the example of honesty and fair play around the world...as least that is what we are indoctrinated to believe from cradle to grave.


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## Mr. Jones (Apr 9, 2012)

Douger said:


> You idiots voted for it.
> The Jews Who Run Congress | Real Zionist News


Because they don't want to look as anti-Semitics to a group of people who aren't even Semites.
_The people who screech the meaningless slogan of anti-Semitism do so because they either have something to gain from using this meaningless pejorative term, or because they do not understand who is a Semite and who is not, and because they are ultimately misled by zionist propaganda._

An Explanation of Anti-Semitism « Kawther Salam


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## starcraftzzz (Apr 10, 2012)

The Most Corrupt States - The Daily Beast
^12 of the 20 most corrupt states are red states, while 3 are blue states.
^Red states have an 80% higher chance to have corruption then blue states.


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## OohPooPahDoo (Apr 10, 2012)

So corrupted compared to what exactly? You want to see a corrupt government take a trip to Mexico.


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## BrianH (Apr 13, 2012)

spectrumc01 said:


> We the people have no balls.



Oh we have them... We just need to remember where we left them, dust them them off and slap our government in the face with them.


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## BrianH (Apr 13, 2012)

Mr Liberty said:


> editec said:
> 
> 
> > Two primary reasons both of them having to do with the SCOTUS.
> ...



3. TERM LIMITS on CONGRESSIONAL SEATS


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## BrianH (Apr 13, 2012)

editec said:


> martybegan said:
> 
> 
> > sparky said:
> ...



You hit the nail on the head, but I'd would go one further and say that there is no "left or right" issue.  We tend to busy ourselves with worrying about the Conservative vs. Liberal fight when we have a lovely Constitution that, if followed, would solve these issues for us.  This fight between left and right has been fabricated to keep us divided and make us feel like the government needs to solve our problems.  We simply need to vote for people who will uphold the Constitution...period.


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## BrianH (Apr 13, 2012)

mike beev said:


> Because citizens vote once every two years and don't get otherwise involved, and paid lobbyists work seven days a week.  The election is a show; the real work is done when most of us arn't looking.



It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes."-- Josef Stalin


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## Dude111 (Apr 13, 2012)

chesswarsnow said:
			
		

> 1. Because they can.
> 2. Because they are greedy.
> 3. Because they are self serving bastards.
> 4. Because they fear no one.
> ...


ALL OF THIS IS QUITE TRUE!!

The US Govt is the MOST CORRUPT in the world... The elite here tries to force thier ways ON EVERY OTHER COLUNTRY in the world and its quite disgusting..


People goto the polls to vote,ARE THEY REALLY THIS BLIND THINKING THEY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?? -- Its all planned out,voting is just a way to keep sheeple IN CONTROL,thinking they have say in things when they really dont!


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## DGS49 (Apr 13, 2012)

The biggest problem with "American Government" (mainly speaking of Congress) is that we have too much of it.

Congress is basically a "rules committee."  Ask yourself this question: Why does an institution that has been in existence for (in effect) 232 years need a full-time rules committee?  When do we have ENOUGH laws and regulations?  At this point in history, Congress should be in session for, at most, a couple weeks a year.  It should be a part-time job that would not interfere with normal gainful employment.

And why do we have so many lawyers in Congress?  Why have lawyers representing the farmers in Iowa?  Why not a farmer?  The growers in California - why not a grower?  And so on.  You need lawyers to draft the legislation but being a lawyer should be a disqualification from being a Congressman/woman.

As Toqueville noted a long time ago, when the people realize that they can vote themselves money and benefits from government, our "democracy" is doomed.  Our Congress - and especially the Democrats - use their legislative power to spend taxpayers' money to buy votes.  How many Democrats describe themselves as being "compassionate" for taking OPM and spreading it out to constituent groups?  And we are stupid enough to believe it.

Every Congressperson's main goal in life is to be re-elected, time after time.  That takes money - huge amounts of it.  So they essentially spend their entire time in office either begging for money or trying to buy votes with legislation.

Yeah, it's pretty corrupt.

The best we can do is try to elect people who are not on a personal power trip, and who have the knowledge to be effective.  Some of them do exist, or so I've been told.  John Kasich is one example.


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## patrickt (Apr 18, 2012)

editec said:


> Two primary reasons both of them having to do with the SCOTUS.
> 
> 1. They gave _corporations the same rights as citizens_
> 
> ...



You meant "these two anti-Democrat findings" but since neither of those "findings" exist I suppose your thread is really pointless. The Supreme Court found nude dancing=free speech not money. And, corporations can't vote but citizens can, well, and non-citizens and dead people if you're a leftist so corporations do not have the rights of citizens.


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