4 ms·

/s/term limits/meaningful campaign finance regulations/

InclinedPlane 15y ago
Both of those are just treatments of symptoms. One core problem is that the government has too much power and too many fingers in too many pies. As long as it's possible to spend x dollars to influence congress and receive y>>x dollars in benefit (through budget spending or favorable regulation) then that sort of thing will always happen, regardless of whether those x dollars are funneled through campaign finance or through other sorts of "influence". The other core problem is the electoral climate. The evolution of the news media and its influence on the voting public has left us with a campaign system that filters out a lot of the best candidates and leaves us with the sort of dreck we're used to seeing fill up congress. Running for office is a nightmare these days, so most sane people avoid it. But that leaves only a few of the most dedicated public servants (who are all too rare) and a much greater proportion of folks seeking office for all the wrong reasons (vanity, kickbacks, power, etc.) If we implemented term limits and stringent campaign finance limits tomorrow we'd still be left with the same shitty crop of corrupt and/or glory seeking politicians we have today, it would just be a more frequently turning over crop.
- RyanMcGreal 15y ago
  The government will always attract people and organizations who want to abuse its power to enrich or otherwise benefit themselves. Other industrialized countries do a better job than the US of keeping those people in check and keeping the government more-or-less on task.
  - InclinedPlane 15y ago
    Care to bolster your claim with evidence? I believe other industrialized nations are at best on par with the US in terms of corruption, if not worse. In the last decade there have been several major corruption scandals in France, the UK, Italy, Canada, and elsewhere. Here's a few examples: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,791113,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,791113,00.... http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/17/us-italy-corruption-idUSTRE61G3XU20100217 http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/17/us-italy-corruptio... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16194089 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16194089 The "corruption perception index" is one measure of corruption, and shows the US as being in the middle of the pack in terms of corruption relative to the G8 overall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index

Both of those are just treatments of symptoms. One core problem is that the government has too much power and too many fingers in too many pies. As long as it's possible to spend x dollars to influence congress and receive y>>x dollars in benefit (through budget spending or favorable regulation) then that sort of thing will always happen, regardless of whether those x dollars are funneled through campaign finance or through other sorts of "influence". The other core problem is the electoral climate. The evolution of the news media and its influence on the voting public has left us with a campaign system that filters out a lot of the best candidates and leaves us with the sort of dreck we're used to seeing fill up congress. Running for office is a nightmare these days, so most sane people avoid it. But that leaves only a few of the most dedicated public servants (who are all too rare) and a much greater proportion of folks seeking office for all the wrong reasons (vanity, kickbacks, power, etc.) If we implemented term limits and stringent campaign finance limits tomorrow we'd still be left with the same shitty crop of corrupt and/or glory seeking politicians we have today, it would just be a more frequently turning over crop.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago
The government will always attract people and organizations who want to abuse its power to enrich or otherwise benefit themselves. Other industrialized countries do a better job than the US of keeping those people in check and keeping the government more-or-less on task.
- InclinedPlane 15y ago
  Care to bolster your claim with evidence? I believe other industrialized nations are at best on par with the US in terms of corruption, if not worse. In the last decade there have been several major corruption scandals in France, the UK, Italy, Canada, and elsewhere. Here's a few examples: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,791113,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,791113,00.... http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/17/us-italy-corruption-idUSTRE61G3XU20100217 http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/17/us-italy-corruptio... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16194089 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16194089 The "corruption perception index" is one measure of corruption, and shows the US as being in the middle of the pack in terms of corruption relative to the G8 overall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index