America's Corruption Is a National Security Threat

[Skroe]

For years it's been commonplace for Americans to take for granted that our country, if anything, suffers only from a kind of "soft" corruption that is more annoying and frustrating to spending and social issues, then destructive and corrosive. In recent years, it's become clear the problem is far fouler and malignant than that. The Manafort trial, the Cohen trial, Me Too, the Boeing crash, the investigations into current and former Trump Administration officials, the Sackler family. The list goes on.

America is very sick right now, and far from draining the swamp, it's only gotten larger and deeper.

America's been here before, and we've gotten out of the muck. And paradoxically, this is a rather good thing: a cleansing of corruption as we've seen begin from the Democratic House and Law Enforcement will only serve to prepare us and strengthen us for the New Cold War. It's better we do it now, at the start. Such a process will take years. Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation is only a microcosm. It isn't just political, and it isn't just Trump. It involves many forms of ethical, moral, legal and financial compromises.

The way out of this is, exactly the inverse: a national recommittment to the rules, to transparency, to ethics, and most of all to consquences. When someone is a crook... when someone breaks a norm or violates the law, there is no deals. No understanding. They should have the book thrown at them.

America's sliding on enforcement goes back many years. When did it begin precisely? Hard to say. Maybe it was people getting off easily with Iran-Contra? Maybe it was because Bill Clinton didn't think he should resign for his deeply inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky? Maybe it was because nobody in the upper echelons of government bore any responsibility for the Iraq War boondoggle, or Abu Girab, or Guantanamo? Or maybe it was because there was ultimately little consequence to those who brought us the Financial Crisis.

Whats the first fix? I think America first needs to not be afraid of throwing people who fuck up to the wolves. We've gone from a society that threatened to pull astronauts from lunar flights because of extra-marital affairs (there was drama during Apollo), to a society that far too easily makes excuses as to why corruption of any kind can be allowed. Or repented for. But no matter what, modern America doesn't know how to truly end people's careers for making monumental mistakes. We need to learn again. When you fail, when you commit corruption of even the slightest amount, you're toast

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/19...curity-threat/

America’s Corruption Is a National Security Threat
Donald Trump is one symptom of a wider problem that’s making the United States weaker on the international stage.


If they’ve been paying attention, Americans have received some rude wake-up calls in recent years. What unpleasant news do these messages convey? The country is a lot more corrupt than Americans realized.

Since 2016, of course, concern for corruption has been riveted on the sleaze show that is the Trump administration. As the New York Times revealed last fall in a remarkable investigative report, U.S. President Donald Trump’s life since boyhood has rested on assorted frauds, tax scams, and shady business dealings, and his recent conduct suggests high office did not alter the family’s modus operandi.

Since becoming president, Trump has breezily ignored the emoluments clause of the Constitution, handed taxpayers a multimillion-dollar bill for his frequent trips to his own properties, appointed his daughter and son-in-law to sensitive positions for which they are manifestly unqualified, and surrounded himself with a host of shady characters. Former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and several other campaign advisors has been convicted of fraud or other crimes, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has been convicted of lying to the FBI, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke both resigned over ethics violations. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta is under fire for the plea deal he gave the wealthy and well-connected accused sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein back when Acosta was a U.S. attorney in Florida, and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross continues to serve despite serious conflicts of interest.

Instead of fulfilling his campaign promise to “drain the swamp,” Trump dug it wider and filled it deeper. Small wonder that the United States has fallen out of the ranks of the top 20 “least corrupt” nations—according to the watchdog group Transparency International—and is now considered a “country to watch” by that nonpartisan organization.

But the problem is in fact far more serious than Trump and his entourage. Consider some other recent scandals.

Example #1: The 2008 Financial Crisis. To some extent, the 2008 financial crisis is a case study of hubris, where self-styled “masters of the universe” convinced themselves they had devised financial instruments that had reduced the risk of a panic to miniscule levels. But the crisis also exposed systemic corruption inside key financial institutions. It wasn’t just a few crooked mortgage brokers offering lots of bad loans; it also involved serious abuses by ratings agencies, investment banks, government-backed lenders like Fannie Mae, and even some academic economists. At least we can take comfort in the fact that the people responsible for cratering the world economy were held accountable and got punished, right? Er, nope.

Example #2: The Boeing 737 Max. The more we learn about the second recent crash of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft, the more disturbing the tale becomes. While a final determination of the causes of the two recent crashes has yet to be made, it seems increasingly clear that Boeing rushed the new plane to market, downplayed the need for additional pilot training, and used an increasingly cozy relationship with Federal Aviation Administration regulators to win approval for the plane. The world seems to have woken up to the conflicts of interest here: The United States was the last country to ground the plane after this month’s crash, and Ethiopian authorities chose to send the black boxes for analysis in France rather than in the United States.

Example #3: The (Latest) College Admissions Scandal. It’s no secret that admission to elite institutions of higher education isn’t the pure meritocracy that universities try to convey. Being part of an alumni family (a “legacy”) is a big plus, and it seems to help a lot if a parent gives the school a big donation at just the right time. But last week’s revelations that wealthy parents and celebrities were colluding with William Singer (a professional “admissions counselor”) and a bunch of corrupt coaches and administrators to get their less-than-fully-qualified kids into elite schools by falsifying test results or passing them off as gifted athletes was still an eye-opener. It was also more evidence—as if any were needed—of the corrupting role big-time athletics play in the life of American universities. Don’t even get me started on that subject.

And let’s not forget that a number of venerated institutions in American life—including the military and the clergy—have been rocked by serious scandals over the past several decades. In addition to the horrifying history of sexual predation and cover-ups in the Catholic Church, the U.S. military has been wrestling with a serious problem of sexual assault in the ranks, a wide-ranging procurement scandal that rocked the U.S. Navy, and the discovery in 2014 that 34 missile launch control officers conspired to falsify scores on proficiency exams. What these and other episodes reminds us is that corruption isn’t confined to the current White House, to a few bad apples like Bernie Madoff, or to a handful of industries with unsavory reputations (like real estate). On the contrary, it seems to be a growing problem in all walks of life.

Why does this matter? For starters, corruption is inherently inefficient. Instead of resources going where they are most needed, they get diverted into bribes, payoffs, kickbacks, and other shady arrangements. And when the wealthy and powerful use connections to get jobs or contracts (or to get their kids into college), that means that more deserving and talented people get excluded and less qualified people end up in positions of authority. The more common such practices become, the more honest and law-abiding people will be tempted to follow suit just to keep up. And once corruption becomes endemic in a society, rooting it out becomes difficult if not impossible.

Making matters worse is the demand for regulation that corruption tends to foster. When more and more people cheat and trust erodes, responsible officials will try to corral corruption by imposing more rules, laws, oversight procedures, and regulatory mechanisms. One sees this phenomenon everywhere—including at universities—where efforts to prevent all sorts of misconduct are making it nearly impossible to do anything efficiently. But the taproot of this problem is the fear that we cannot trust anyone to act properly without strict guidance and suffocating levels of bureaucratic oversight. Sadly, such fears are far from groundless.

Corruption and other forms of elite malfeasance also nourish populist anger. When elites go to great lengths to game the system and are increasingly seen as out of touch and unaccountable, it is hardly surprising that ordinary people who have been playing by the rules become so angry that they will put their faith in anyone who promises to shake up the system. Such sentiments help explain the otherwise surprising popularity of a candidate like Bernie Sanders or the rapid rise of straight-talking politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ironically, it also played a key role in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, which proved that if you can fake integrity, you’ve got it made.

Over the longer term, rising corruption threatens America’s soft power, and especially its reputation for competence. Other countries are more likely to follow America’s lead when they believe the core institutions of U.S. society are run by people who know what they are doing, and when foreign governments have confidence that the information provided by U.S. officials is accurate. But when grifters rule the roost and privileged elites use their current positions to hog even more for themselves, their offspring, and their cronies, our core institutions will function poorly and other states will lose confidence in our ability to deliver as promised.

To be sure, the United States still ranks relatively low on most indices of corruption, and it is a far cry from those unfortunate places where corrupt practices are almost a way of life. But we Americans are not nearly as pure as we pretend, or as concerned about the problem as we ought to be. And as long as Donald J. Trump is alligator-in-chief, life in the swamp will go on as before.

Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.

[Skroe]

The democrats are the embodiment of corruption. The way Obama handled Hillary emails shows that there was obstruction of justice. The FBI has lost all of its integrity with many of its top officials caught lying red handedly and that's beside politically motivated investigations and plotting coup attempts. That's why Trump is president, because people were fed up with elite corruption circles and he was able to abuse this and connect with the local guy.

As for elections, sadly it's always been corrupt. Nothing changed, now we call it "campaign contributions" but the rich were able to "buy votes" in earlier days.

Except Trump is President Corruption.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/68597...th-trump-hotel
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...fac_story.html

And 'coup' attempts. lol.

I love how this is an actual National Security Threat, that weakens us in a worsening geopolitical situation, and what's the first thing you do?

Cover.
Trump's.
Orange.
Ass.

[Biomega]

The way out of this is, exactly the inverse: a national recommittment to the rules, to transparency, to ethics, and most of all to consquences. When someone is a crook... when someone breaks a norm or violates the law, there is no deals. No understanding. They should have the book thrown at them.

The problem being, of course, that the people in charge of making these decisions are also the people least incentivized to actually make them. It's like telling a preschooler that they are in charge of regulating how much ice cream they can eat.

We didn't get to this state of affairs by happenstance. It's the result of people gaming the system, from all sides, legally and illegally. Breaking the law is easy if the cost associated is low; and if you're in charge of setting those costs, well, that's a feedback loop right there. You can see that expressed in many facets of government, legislature, justice, and the economy. If uninformed people are easier to get votes from, then that's an incentive for politicians to keep the level of education low - the result is opaque admissions systems, staggering tuition costs, predatory student loans, etc. If money gets you votes and lobbyists get you money, then that's an incentive for politicians to sell out and draft laws around special interests. If white people do cocaine and black people do crack, and all the politicians are mostly white people, then of course they have an incentive to make cocaine a gentleman's crime with low sentences, and make crack laws draconian and brutally harsh. If you can make obscene amounts of money LEGALLY by catering to special interests groups and lobbyists, then of course politicians have an incentive to make policies around those who give them the most money.

It's the age old problem of "don't hate the player, hate the game". You can't expect people to just be nice. You need something to MAKE them be nice. This doesn't always have to be legal measures - after all, nobody is threatening to jail you for being a royal cunt, but you still don't behave like one because the makeup of society (usually) gives you an incentive to not do so and be nice instead (and even that system is somewhat broken by now). If we ignore politicians lying, cheating, and profiteering, then all that does is send a signal to them that they should continue with that behavior. Half a century ago, lying in office could kill your career. Now it MAKES your career. And that's not because we loosened the laws, but because people changed how they think. Tribalism has turned voters away from people and towards ideologies - so what the politicians actually do doesn't matter, as long as they maintain the facade of belonging to "your" camp. How many elections have we had recently where one of the candidates was an absolute monster with enough scandals and outrageous statements to make you faint. And did that matter? No. What mattered was "They're Republican, so I vote for them" or "They're Democrat, so I vote for them" - or, even worse, "they're an asshole, but I'm NOT voting for a Republican!" or "they're crooked as the day is long, but I'm NOT voting for a Democrat!". If that is how people behave as political actors, then it's no wonder we keep spiraling deeper and deeper into political depravity.

It's a destructive circle of rapidly falling standards and practices. When were elections last decided on policy rather than scandals, personality, and media wars around profiles and perception? Heck, even if you COULD get someone to commit to a position, they're more than willing to ignore campaign promises or flip-flop based on the current climate, because WHY WOULDN'T THEY DO THAT if they know we let them get away with it.

Elected politicians don't just appear like Frank Underwood. They are voted into office BY US. For now at least they STILL NEED US. So the only way to tackle this problem is from the bottom up. You can't trust politicians to fix a system if they are the ones benefiting the most from it being broken. WE need to fix it, by exercising our democratic power. And that means creating a state of mind where we can think critically and be critical. Where we learn to discern fact from fiction, rhetoric from substance, policy from populism. It's hard work. It starts at a young age. Everyone and everything is designed to stop you from doing it, because educated, critical, sophisticated voters are the LAST thing politicians want. They don't want to have to actually do work, be held accountable, and have to struggle to increase the public good. But just like an ice-cream-gobbling toddler, WE MUST NOT ALLOW THEM TO DO THAT. For their own good as well as ours, because we all know what happens in the future if we don't. We have a giant mess on our hands that we are left to clean up, and the ones responsible will do nothing but cry and look offended.

Be smarter. Be more critical. Think beyond tribalism and ideology. Think for the future, not the next four years. That's the ONLY way lasting change will ever be effected.

[jeezusisacasual]

Not to spout off about money being the root of all evil but it is a large portion of it currently. Fixing lobbying efforts would be a nice start, investigating those in government who move onto public sector jobs that they themselves get donations from would be another. I am sure we could spend a generation seeking out and removing the rot because a very large portion of the populace allowed the rot to seep so damn deep. Another thing is that given our more recent history the American populace is willing to look the other way if they are given enough red meat to chew on, just ask some die hards here in Wyoming.

I leave alot of the military information to those better suited for it as the only connection i have is that my father fought in service to the nation during Vietnam and he had instilled a form of terror in myself to avoid it at all costs. I am not against American military being world police but not at the expense of the more weaker of our peers because it leads to things none of us like which is large society upheavals ( i think alot of the extremism is caused by a lack of economic progress for either side of the fence ).

I was lucky in paying off my higher education costs in quick order because of my family mostly but with thrift living for 7 years after school ( I also went the community college route first which saved me a new car worth of costs ). Those responsible for the 2008 crash should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent similar to Iceland. I enjoy your posts mostly because it allows me to look into a lens i otherwise would not have the chance to otherwise more so in military matters.

[Surfd]

The democrats are the embodiment of corruption. The way Obama handled Hillary emails shows that there was obstruction of justice. The FBI has lost all of its integrity with many of its top officials caught lying red handedly and that's beside politically motivated investigations and plotting coup attempts. That's why Trump is president, because people were fed up with elite corruption circles and he was able to abuse this and connect with the local guy.

That's awesome. Can you share the technology you used to slide here from whatever batshit insane alternate reality you came from? Cause we could really use it so we can send everyone else who actually believes this shit somewhere where they will properly feel at home.

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Not to spout off about money being the root of all evil but it is a large portion of it currently. Fixing lobbying efforts would be a nice start, investigating those in government who move onto public sector jobs that they themselves get donations from would be another.

Good luck with that. I mean, you literally had both sides of your government band together to practically issue a public smackdown on someone for merely having the audacity to point out that lobbying groups exist, and that some of them are lobbying for the interests of a foreign nation. I can just imagine what kind of shit would fly if someone actually tried to "fix" them.

[Orbitus]

The democrats are the embodiment of corruption. The way Obama handled Hillary emails shows that there was obstruction of justice. The FBI has lost all of its integrity with many of its top officials caught lying red handedly and that's beside politically motivated investigations and plotting coup attempts. That's why Trump is president, because people were fed up with elite corruption circles and he was able to abuse this and connect with the local guy.

As for elections, sadly it's always been corrupt. Nothing changed, now we call it "campaign contributions" but the rich were able to "buy votes" in earlier days.

Really? How did Obama have ANYTHING to do with Hillary's emails?

And the ONLY reason that Trump is president, is because of gullible people thanks to Russian meddling.

[Skroe]

As much as I always like to take a Cleveland Steamer on Trump and his Trumphadis, there is a much larger, more important point in the quoted article.

Trump is symptomatic of a much larger, deeper and older rot.

[Doctor Amadeus]

As much as I always like to take a Cleveland Steamer on Trump and his Trumphadis, there is a much larger, more important point in the quoted article.

Trump is symptomatic of a much larger, deeper and older rot.

If by stemming from a larger deeper and older rot, Yeah. Decades of toppling leaders that don't conform to U.S policy, installing puppet regimes, fallen powerful enemies. What is happening to us, has happened to many other nations, and most as you are well aware were ignorant or completely stupid about has happened to the U.S.

This is why despite the jokes, and suggested rhetoric, no we it's real, real and this thread mirrors the other.

[Super Kami Dende]

Not really anymore corrupt than it's ever been. People just seem more aware of it since more idiots entering Politics and Social Media blab too much and have a bad case of foot in mouth syndrome.

[Orbitus]

Not really anymore corrupt than it's ever been. People just seem more aware of it since more idiots entering Politics and Social Media blab too much and have a bad case of foot in mouth syndrome.

Really? Which other president kept controlling interests in their companies so that foreign governments could influence them? The last president to even have a company? Was that Jimmy Carter? Even he put his peanut farm in a blind trust. Trump has been personally enriched by Saudi Arabia and Russia, just to name 2. Then you have Ivanka and getting patents in China and Saudi Arabia.

Has there ever been another president or first family that has been personally enriched by other countries? No? Didn't think so.

[Forogil]

If you look at transparency international rankings not only is the US falling down below most of western Europe and Canada, but might soon also be below a south American country (Uruguay).

[Zaktar]

Looking at Elizabeth Warren in terms of the closest thing to an anti-corruption candidate we have for a national candidate. Would love to see a straight up anti-corruption party but third parties in this country =/ Even Warren is a stretch, though she seems level headed and integral enough to do the job correctly.

[Super Kami Dende]

Really? Which other president kept controlling interests in their companies so that foreign governments could influence them? The last president to even have a company? Was that Jimmy Carter? Even he put his peanut farm in a blind trust. Trump has been personally enriched by Saudi Arabia and Russia, just to name 2. Then you have Ivanka and getting patents in China and Saudi Arabia.

Has there ever been another president or first family that has been personally enriched by other countries? No? Didn't think so.

Can you prove that there hasn't been? I mean that's the whole point of Corruption, it is hidden until it is found out. How else do you think so many Politicians end up as Millionaires on a Salary a fraction of it.

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Looking at Elizabeth Warren in terms of the closest thing to an anti-corruption candidate we have for a national candidate. Would love to see a straight up anti-corruption party but third parties in this country =/ Even Warren is a stretch, though she seems level headed and integral enough to do the job correctly.

AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH. Yes, Pocahontas is so fucking legitimate. Lets get someone who leeched off a system by lying about her identity to head an anti-corruption group.

Fucking hilarious joke my dude.

[Calfredd]

I don't care so much about political issues but you can check out fancytextfont to choose some unique characters for your nicknames right now

Go away you adbot.

[Wyrt]

Citizens United is one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. Money is not free speech, it is bribes. All the justices that made that decision need to be removed. I'm also completely baffled that people saw that decision happen and then decided "You know what we need? MORE corrupt conservative justices."

We need a complete overhaul of our election system that limits the amount of money being pumped into it. Politicians receiving large bribes from corporations and other special interests and then going on to vote in favor of those same corporations is appalling. And both parties are guilty of taking these bribes.

Democrats offered a bill to begin working towards fixing and Republicans have shot it down claiming it's a Democrat power grab. But even the Democrat bill goes no where near far enough to limit the effect that money has on our government.

And no, Trump has done absolutely fuck all to get rid of the corruption. He's made it worse by stacking his cabinet with corporate cocksuckers and special interests. The 1 good campaign promise he had is the one he broke before he even took office.

[Zaktar]

AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH. Yes, Pocahontas is so fucking legitimate. Lets get someone who leeched off a system by lying about her identity to head an anti-corruption group.

Fucking hilarious joke my dude.

Not your dude, but good point, a nearly irrelevant detail from the distant past discounts her and overrides the meaningful and highly relevant political work she's done in the intervening time. Will just have to keep waiting for that candidate who was perfect from birth forward. Happy to have amused you though, I relish in spreading cheer

[Alydael]

I totally agree.

The only way to "fix" America- is to get rid of both the Dems and Pubs. They both have a terrible record- endless war, corruption, insane debt to China- the list goes on and they are both very guilty.

The best part is- we could do it at the ballot box! We just need their enablers to stop voting for all the corruption and fraud.

[Zaktar]

As much as I always like to take a Cleveland Steamer on Trump and his Trumphadis, there is a much larger, more important point in the quoted article.

Trump is symptomatic of a much larger, deeper and older rot.

To me the rot you're describing has existed as long as human society. Or I assume it has, since our records only go back so far, but the idea that the accumulation of power through whichever method is socially appropriate is a means of allowing individuals to do what they want rather than follow the rules seems as old as humans. I'd guess that trying to stop them is equally old. Our history is one of the rot infecting us with the inefficiency you describe until the system crumbles and must be rebuilt, and how long it lasts in part at least depends on how effectively the flows of power are mapped out so that the tendency of the powerful to bend a system to their own needs is incorporated into the design, and also on whether forward thinking and upstanding individuals pick up their machetes and hack it away. Sometimes it runs too deeply. If any of that makes sense.

The best we can do is try to cleanse it, and it is absolutely in our best interest because almost all of us benefit more from the status quo than we would from the chaos of a system reset. In general those resets benefit a few people and it probably won't be anyone reading this post if it happens here. Certainly at a minimum we all benefit from a better running engine not clogged up with orange grease balls.

How, when, why our system grew to its current level of corruption I can't say, not well versed enough in American history to intelligently guess, but I'm hoping to read some thoughtful analyses in between the static.

[Itori]

It'd be nice if all political positions had a term limit, you see the same people up there spouting the same drivel for 10-30yrs but doing little to nothing about it, and its funny how a senator can go in broke when they first start and somehow become millionaires in such a short time even though their salary is 174k a yr

[Faerillis]

Can you prove that there hasn't been? I mean that's the whole point of Corruption, it is hidden until it is found out. How else do you think so many Politicians end up as Millionaires on a Salary a fraction of it.

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AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH. Yes, Pocahontas is so fucking legitimate. Lets get someone who leeched off a system by lying about her identity to head an anti-corruption group.

Fucking hilarious joke my dude.

First point? Lobbying groups, "fundraising". Corruption certainly but a softer breed that while still cancerous has been the status quo for ages and is simply seen as part of the system at this point due to politicians aiming to normalize it. So we are talking about real, outright, criminal levels of corruption of which no one with a 10th of a brain cell left believes Trump isn't guilty of regardless of their opinions on him.
Nice attempt at whataboutism though, around what you've led everyone to expect from you. One, you don't get to make absurd claims without being able to put proof to them. Second, the corruption here is beyond the point where anyone could feign not to know about it.

Your second point? Well you already lost all credibility you could ever hope to have on this by calling her Pocahontos, you bigoted boob. Got any hard proof for those claims either?