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From the days of Athenian democracy to the back rooms of Chicago politics today​, corruption has plagued all political systems for all time. It is ubiquitous, vexing.
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Indeed, popular excitement over national growth and industrialization only thinly glossed over the stark economic inequalities and various degrees of corruption of the era. Politicians of the time largely catered to business interests in exchange for political support and wealth.

In the impeachment inquiry, is the US a defender of democracy — or corrupt itself?

Many participated in graft and bribery, often justifying their actions with the excuse that corruption was too widespread for a successful politician to resist. The machine politics of the cities, specifically Tammany Hall in New York, illustrate the kind of corrupt, but effective, local and national politics that dominated the era. Nationally, between and , the lack of clear popular mandates made presidents reluctant to venture beyond the interests of their traditional supporters.

As a result, for nearly a quarter of a century, presidents had a weak hold on power, and legislators were reluctant to tie their political agendas to such weak leaders. What was the result of this political malaise? Not surprisingly, almost nothing was accomplished on the federal level. However, problems associated with the tremendous economic growth during this time continued to mount.

More Americans were moving to urban centers, which were unable to accommodate the massive numbers of working poor. Tenement houses with inadequate sanitation led to widespread illness. In rural parts of the country, people fared no better. Farmers were unable to cope with the challenges of low prices for their crops and exorbitant costs for everyday goods. All around the country, Americans in need of solutions turned further away from the federal government for help, leading to the rise of fractured and corrupt political groups.

Mark Twain wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today with his neighbor, Charles Dudley Warner, as a satire about the corrupt politics and lust for power that he felt characterized American society at the time.

America Was Built on Corruption

Mark Twain was a noted humorist, recognized by most Americans as the greatest writer of his day. In the following conversation from Chapter Fifty-One of the book, Colonel Sellers instructs young Washington Hawkins on the routine practices of Congress:.

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I think Congress always tries to do as near right as it can, according to its lights. The first preliminary it always starts out on, is to clean itself, so to speak. It will arraign two or three dozen of its members, or maybe four or five dozen, for taking bribes to vote for this and that and the other bill last winter. Sixty or eighty or a hundred and fifty people are bound to get in who are not angels in disguise, as young Hicks the correspondent says; but still it is a very good average; very good indeed.

Well, after they have finished the bribery cases, they will take up cases of members who have bought their seats with money. That will take another four weeks.

Corruption in the United States - Wikipedia

The book was a success, in part because it amused people even as it excoriated the politics of the day. In many ways, the presidential election of foreshadowed the politics of the era, in that it resulted in one of the most controversial results in all of presidential history. The country was in the middle of the economic downturn caused by the Panic of , a downturn that would ultimately last until , all but assuring that Republican incumbent Ulysses S.

Grant would not be reelected. In this most notorious example of Gilded Age corruption, several congressmen accepted cash and stock bribes in return for appropriating inflated federal funds for the construction of the transcontinental railroad. The Democrats likewise sought a candidate who could champion reform against growing political corruption.


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They found their man in Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York and a self-made millionaire, who had made a successful political career fighting corruption in New York City, including spearheading the prosecution against Tammany Hall Boss William Tweed, who was later jailed. Both parties tapped into the popular mood of the day, each claiming to champion reform and promising an end to the corruption that had become rampant in Washington. Likewise, both parties promised an end to post-Civil War Reconstruction. These campaign posters for Rutherford B.

Hayes a and Samuel Tilden b underscore the tactics of each party, which remained largely unchanged, regardless of the candidates. In , true to the campaign style of the day, neither Tilden nor Hayes actively campaigned for office, instead relying upon supporters and other groups to promote their causes. Fearing a significant African American and white Republican voter turnout in the South, particularly in the wake of the Civil Rights Act of , which further empowered African Americans with protection in terms of public accommodations, Democrats relied upon white supremacist terror organizations to intimidate blacks and Republicans, including physically assaulting many while they attempted to vote.

The Redshirts, based in Mississippi and the Carolinas, and the White League in Louisiana, relied upon intimidation tactics similar to the Ku Klux Klan but operated in a more open and organized fashion with the sole goal of restoring Democrats to political predominance in the South. In several instances, Redshirts would attack freedmen who attempted to vote, whipping them openly in the streets while simultaneously hosting barbecues to attract Democratic voters to the polls.


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    6. Women throughout South Carolina began to sew red flannel shirts for the men to wear as a sign of their political views; women themselves began wearing red ribbons in their hair and bows about their waists. The result of the presidential election, ultimately, was close.

    4 More Examples of American Political Corruption

    Tilden won the popular vote by nearly , votes; however, he had only electoral votes, with needed to proclaim formal victory. Three states, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, were in dispute due to widespread charges of voter fraud and miscounting. Questions regarding the validity of one of the three electors in Oregon cast further doubt on the final vote; however, that state subsequently presented evidence to Congress confirming all three electoral votes for Hayes. As a result of the disputed election, the House of Representatives established a special electoral commission to determine which candidate won the challenged electoral votes of these three states.

    Moving on, who would have ever thought such a minor country as Ukraine would end up as such a vortex of corruption and intrigue.


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    No one was especially shocked last week when two Russian Rudy Giuliani associates were nabbed in an airport taking a one-way trip to Vienna. Turns out they run fake companies funneling dark Russian money into American political campaigns. Caught, red handed. Friends of Rudy doing dark deals through Ukraine for Russians. Who could have ever imagined?

    This whole Ukraine thing is only going to get more alarming and more damning by the day.

    Corruption and Politics in Latin America: National and Regional Dynamics

    This could or could not lead to the ultimate impeachment looking more likely by the day and removal also looking more likely by the day, especially with the Kurdish thing of Donald Trump. Warning: Non-partisan message ahead. Please lower your political shields and hear what I have to say:.

    Last year, many locals were aghast and upset at the flood of outside-the-area cash that propelled Katie Hill to upset Steve Knight. Fair enough critique and understandable. Indeed, money influenced that election, and some feel unfairly so. But you and I just get one vote. Look at it! After this Ukraine affair I hope all sides see this is leading us to a third world situation where votes count far less than connections and cash.

    Where our own national government can get compromised to the point we actually turn on trusted battlefield allies. Where policies are for sale and Americans are short-sold in the process. This thing has to change. Many countries allow only public funding of political contests. This is the one lesson we all can take away from the current Washington warfare.