Corruption in America - It's our own fault

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Lord Acton, 1887 )

I've used this quote before (see "Looking Forward to the 2010 Election" ) but in a different context.  In that post I used the quote to emphasis the need for term limits and a more active role of the populous in our government.  In today's news you'll find how true the wisdom of this quote really is.  Corruption in our government at almost all levels is rampant and entrenched in our political process.  I've outlined a few times how certain members of our government (Barney Frank and company) twist their own actions to focus the blame for our current financial mess to their opponents while their own pockets are lined with the ill-gotten-gains of the true backers who steer the votes of our representatives. I'm sure Mr. Frank isn't the only person doing this, after all, this is a proven political tactic legally pursued by lobbyists to promote the agenda of the organizations providing them money.  This is how things get done in Washington.  The bottom line is that money talks, unfortunately the ordinary citizens voice is lost in the process but I'm sure the congressmen and senators think their doing the right thing... right?

If we know that no matter where you look in Washington your going to find some level of corruption, why is it such a surprise when this mess about Senator Obama's senate seat hit the news?  Why should this be such a surprise that the seat doesn't got to the highest bidder?  After all, don't most politicians make decision based on the highest bidder?  When we vote a person into the government a process starts to temper their polly-anna views towards right and wrong.  This tempering makes the elected official realize that their constituents are morons who really don't know what good for them.  They mindset matures to the fact that only they (and the lobbyists who provide clarity on issues) know what is best. Since dollar amount's are indicators of correct decision making I'm sure Gov. Blagojevich was only trying to make the choice he felt was the best for his people, right?  

When is America going to pull their heads out and fix this problem?  This isn't going to go away until the people make it stop.  We as a people need to make our voices heard on how outraged we are about the corruption in our government.  We need to take back our voice and stop the insanity happening in Washington and around our country.  My suggestion is that more and more of us get involved with what is happening and when corruption is found, shout it to the world.  We need to clean the halls of Washington and then put the processes in place to prevent corruption from re-emerging.  Term limits, oversight, proper candidate vetting, and continual citizen involvement are the only true way of keeping everything above board.  Get out there and do your part folks and help clean up this mess.