I think the perception has changed a great deal since then. Note that the USA government hired on a spoils-based system until 1883: https://en.wikipedia.org/wik

I think the perception has changed a great deal since then. Note that the USA government hired on a spoils-based system until 1883: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoils_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoils_system It would be brilliant to see an analysis of how commonplace this and other types of corruption were historically and geographically.