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"Oversight of their actions is certainly necessary and appropriate, not because all politicians are presumptively corrupt, but because all people are corruptible and oversight can strengthen their resolve."
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http://www.universityregister.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=722&Itemid=30

Washington not as corrupt as it appears
Written by Alex Murphy   
Friday, 17 October 2008
In this year’s vice presidential debate Senator Joe Biden responded to a question concerning bipartisanship by telling a story about his first year in the Senate. He had criticized a colleague over a disagreement, and Mike Mansfield, a former leader of the Senate, told him, “Everyone’s sent here for a reason, because there’s something in them that their folks like. Don’t question their motive.” Biden said that since that day he had not questioned his colleagues’ motives, but rather their judgment.

Biden’s point, I think, is an extremely important one. Partisanship and competition are not intrinsically negative aspects of the politics but when they transform into outright animosity. It is difficult for any government to function effectively if half of it is convinced the other only has opposing views because they hate the country, or they are just pandering to their corporate sponsors, or whatever other reasons partisans manage to come up with to defame their opposition. While it is certainly sustainable to claim that a variety of motives determine the decisions each politician makes, the prejudice of biases among these motives is not the same as corruption. Corruption is extremely serious and to diminish the gravity of this offense by attributing it to all opposition is unacceptable.  In addition, the unethical conduct of inappropriately impugning the character of other elected officials.

Public servants should be provided the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their motives. Oversight of their actions is certainly necessary and appropriate, not because all politicians are presumptively corrupt, but because all people are corruptible and oversight can strengthen their resolve.  These people were elected for a reason and given that they are reelected year after year, their electorates must at least generally approve of what they are doing.

That all being said, when real corruption is common knowledge it should not be vaguely tolerated. For example, it was supposedly well known that Congressman Mark Foley treated pages inappropriately long before his scandal.   I do not know if this went unreported due to intense electoral competition, a fear of the party being branded as corrupt, a lack of knowledge on the extent of impropriety, or whatever else.    Regardless of the reason though, this kind of unethical behavior should be unequivocally reported, investigated, and dealt with.

Corruption in Washington, or anywhere, must not become the status quo. It is not acceptable to simply that say Washington is corrupt and dismiss it as useless and counterproductive.   If people truly believe that the government is that corrupt then they should show how and correct it.    If they are unable show how it’s corrupt, then their case probably lacks substance.

The latest case of corruption in Washington is that of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. P  erhaps this case is not as personal as child molestation, but it is far more relevant to the actual job of a Senator to make decisions on the behalf of their electorate.   If he did, in fact, act inappropriately then this should be a very large issue and not considered just business as usual in Washington.

The point is, that these people are public servants and should be models for good citizenship and I am unconvinced that they generally act improperly. Perhaps negative advertising has made people think Washington is this corrupt, or perhaps constant news coverage filled with partisan punditry. Regardless of the cause, I think Americans should keep in mind that although their representatives are not perfect, they are mostly good people who believe in public service.


 
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U.S. v. Stevens Documents
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