In the first month of 2015, three separate high-ranking United States government officials
made headlines after being publicly accused of accepting bribes.
In September, one of them,
the now ex-governor of Virginia, was convicted on these charges.
Though, he still insists that he
“never, ever” betrayed his oath of office and his accepting gifts was just business
as usual in our
lobby-heavy political system.
So, where is the line between lobbying and bribery?
The distinction between lobbying and bribery is largely semantic.
A bribe elicits an influence
which is bought and paid for.
I’m going to give you this money and you are going to vote my
way.
That, is illegal.
Lobbying gifts and fundraising, on the other hand, isn’t supposed to
guarantee a particular response.
I’m going to give you money, but you are under no obligation
to vote my way, I’m just paying gain access to you.
An act which is totally legal under our
political system.
Legal, but not without its problems.
There is always the possibility that lobbyists
could withhold their contributions for the NEXT campaign if their needs are not met in
this
term.
This is, of course, only implied.
But, as the rules regulating lobbyists are loosened, this
implication gains strength.
And, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2010 and 2014 to eliminate
some of the caps on donations from lobbyists.
Critics worry that as donations grow in size, the
implied threat of losing them may wield more influence.
Ex-president Jimmy Carter has called
the 2010 Supreme Court decision “stupid,” constituting “legal bribery of candidates.”
And even if politicians ARE being illegally influenced by donors, proving it is difficult.
A
politician can always claim to have voted a certain way purely by their own choice,
and not
because of a donor’s influence.
Where politicians get into trouble, is when a distinct pattern
emerges from that politician being paid by a donor and then immediately acting to benefit
that donor.
In that case, some juries will convict.
That’s what happened to the ex-governor of
Virginia, Bob McDonnell.
In January 2015, he was sentenced to prison for accepting luxury gifts
and free vacations from a single donor in exchange for political access and influence.
The FBI has also caught more than a few politicians through sting operations.
In 2005,
Louisiana congressman William J. Jefferson was caught on video accepting a hundred-
thousand dollar cash bribe.
Jefferson received the longest prison term for corruption ever for a
US congressman -- 13 years.
So does that mean our system is corrupt?
No.
Comparatively speaking, the US isn’t all that
bad.
Transparency International, a non-governmental, non-partisan organization which ranks
corruption, has the US listed as 17th on their list in 2014.
Behind Denmark and New Zealand
who were tied for first, but still well above other nations like China and Russia who were
100th
and 136th respectively.
Money and politics go hand in hand these days, but billionaires from the Republican and
Democratic parties actually do want a lot of the same things.
Check out this video to learn more.