Corruption in American Politics
Corruption in U.S. politics is the act of government officials misusing their political powers for personal gains, mainly through bribery or other methods. Corruption is a disease that infects society’s political, economic, and cultural structure and destroys the essential organs. It is among the most significant challenges in the modern world because it deforms public policies and weakens good government. Moreover, it results in resource misallocation, hurts private sectors and their development, and particularly hurts the poor. This paper will discuss corruption in American politics focusing on how certain groups are affected and propose ways to resolve it.
In recent years, the U.S. nation has faced a political and social disruption due to the exposure of illegal and corrupt tactics in political life. The impact employed by private organizations’ interest in public matters has been abused until the ordinary citizens have become thoroughly provoked. Well-known magazines have fought against each other in suing corporations and individuals. Nevertheless, the prosecuted individuals use their finances to buy their freedom from courts. Courts of justice and investigation committees have disclosed certain conditions that are alarming to the moral sense of all self-respecting citizens. Courts allow corrupt individuals to evade jailing by paying small amounts of bonds. In the United States, Corruption is a significantly growing challenge across different sectors, specifically in the political field. In 2020, United States was positioned by Transparency International as the twenty-fifth least corrupt nation out of 180 countries ranked. The rank falls from the eighteenth position in 2016 (“Americas: Awakening Democracy …” 2019, n.p.). The ranking portrays that the U.S. is facing risks to its balances and checks systems, in addition to attrition of ethical standards at the highest power levels.
Corruption in political systems in the U.S. dramatically affects the poor. There is no quality for service in several systems with corruption. Individuals have to pay to demand quality of services. For instance, in the judicial systems, the rich always pay for the case to be judged in their favor. Unfortunately, the poor who have no much money cannot pay to earn justice in the court systems there most cases are judged against their favor. Also, in the municipality, distribution relief funds, and even electricity, people must pay massive amounts to get quality service (Dincer and Johnson 2016, 11). The services which ordinary citizens freely deserve are now purchased. The poor, therefore, are not getting public service since they do not have enough funds to buy the services. Furthermore, it has been difficult for economically disadvantaged individuals to get public offices due to corruption. The government officials ensure that only their relatives and those close to them can occupy the vacancies in the public offices.
One way that can help combat corruption in the U.S. is by ending impunity. The nation should establish laws and rules that ensure that corrupt individuals are punished and removed from public offices. The judicial system should be reshuffled to replace the corrupt employees with new workers who respect national moral values (Brown et al. 2018, 3). Effective enforcement methods are essential to ensure that corrupt individuals are punished, therefore breaking the impunity cycle. The second way of reducing corruption in the U.S. is reforming financial management and public administration. The government should reform public administrations and financial management to enhance financial management and strengthen the country’s auditing agency role. The reforms include disclosing information in the budget to prevent misappropriation and waste of public resources. Finally, the third way of reducing corruption in the United States is by promoting transparency and information access. The country should encourage openness of the government, access to information, transparency, and freedom of the press. The advancement of transparency and information access is the best way of curbing corruption in the United States. Besides, transparency is less evident in organizations that operate in corrupt environments (Brown et al. 2018, 3). For instance, when the government is open about a vacancy in a public office, it will give all citizens an equal chance to apply for the job enhancing equality.
Source: BIAC (2014), http://biac.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/07/14_05_BIAC_EPC_Survey_2014_Synthesis_Report1.pdf
The actions and behaviors of the Former United States President, Donald Trump, significantly worsened the issue concerning corruption. For instance, he was allegedly given a 19% stake in Russia’s most prominent oil firm, Rosneft (Berlin 2017, n.p.). In return, he was to remove the restriction which President Obama imposed. Consequently, the move then reduced the sanction placed on Russia. According to the new knowledge, corruption is the use of public office for personal gain. The knowledge will help campaign for the implementation of rules and regulations promoting the punishment of corrupt individuals. The changes will impact both the government officials and the ordinary citizens. Besides, organizations operating in corrupt environments get more value in voluntarily disclosing information to organizations who might be acting as monitors (Brown et al. 2018, 3). Thus, failure to disclose information or engaging in corrupt dealings may lead to government officials being impacted negatively, leading to a reduced level of corruption. Consequently, the economically disadvantaged individuals in society are positively affected because the changes will give equal opportunities for all.
In a nutshell, corruption in the United States has significantly grown to a new level from 2016. It eats up the political, social, and cultural fabrics of the society. It results in the misappropriation of resources, abuse of public offices, and other adverse effects. However, promoting transparency can resolve abuse of office, helping in ending impunity, and reforming financial management and public administrations.
Bibliography
Berlin, Bruce. 2017. America’s Political System Thrives On Corruption. March 26. Accessed April 23, 2021. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/americas-political-system-thrives-on-corruption_b_58d55629e4b0f633072b371f.
BIAC (2014), BIAC Economic Policy Survey 2014: Structural Reforms and Implementation, accessed online on 8 June 2016 at http://biac.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/07/14_05_BIAC_EPC_Survey_2014_Synthesis_Report1.pdf
Brown, Nerissa C., Jared D. Smith, Roger M. White, and Chad J. Zutter. 2018. “Political Corruption and Firm Value in the U.S.: Do Rents and Monitoring Matter?” Journal of Business Ethics 1-17.
Dincer, Oguzhan, and Michael Johnson . 2016. “Political Culture and Corruption Issues in State Politics: A New Measure of Corruption Issues and a Test of Relationships to Political Culture.” The Journal of Federalism 1-18.
Transparency International. 2019. Americas: Awakening Democracy and Rise in Populism Hinder Anti-Corruption Efforts. January 29. Accessed April 22, 2021. https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2018-regional-analysis-americas.
