America: the ideal foundation of a flourishing, self-governing society, with fortunes to those of a deserving class. A society that could, one day, achieve wealth as a nation, where no one within its borders would be taken advantage of or forgotten. A society, made up of hardworking and dedicated patriots, where all would have the chance to become successful. Greed would be vanquished, the government would be for the people, and a mere mirage of a nation would birth a new world power. However, greed can corrupt even the purest of civilizations and simplest of minds, blurring the vision of a possible perfect union. The year 1776 declared a new and independent nation, that allowed a form of government to be conceived for the people, governed …show more content…
The country is the land of opportunity and refuge. However, what if America truly is becoming the very thing it fought during the 20th century? Is America becoming a regime, run by corrupt politicians, corporations, monopolies, driven by greed or thirst for power in foreign investments or lobbying? Political corruption can be classified as the abuse of power by one or multiple government officials for illegitimate and/or private gain. An illegal act, done by an officeholder, classifies as political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties or is carried out, under their laws, and can also involve influential trading. A common trait of corruption can be lobbying. Lobbying, is the process of trying to influence or sway the public or government policies at all levels; federal, state and local. According to the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International (TI) (http://www.transparency.org/country/USA), America is 16th on the list of least corrupt nations, behind European nations, Canada and Australia. America is even on par with the Bahamas and Barbados in corruption! However, TI states, “from fraud and embezzlement charges to the failure to uphold ethical standards, there are multiple cases of corruption at the federal, state and local level.” Even a country that holds a 76% “clean” rate can have flaws. What are examples of these “charges” or scandals? Has America fallen …show more content…
Scandals in the United States can date back to as early as when congressmen of the First Continental Congress were accepting bribes to vote for Hamilton or Jefferson. President Grant was also caught up in many fraudulent cases and scandals as he had one of the most corrupt cabinets in American history. However, there is a more recent scandal, involving not only several congressmen, but the senator of Arizona. The Keating Five, in 1989, was the direct result after the collapse of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. After the deregulation of savings and loan associations in the early 1980's, several large banks began taking greater risks with depositors' money, exposing themselves into risky real estate and junk bonds in an effort to potentially gain maximum profits. Fearful about the future of the vast amounts of federally-insured money being invested, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) instituted a financial cap on the amount of money that the savings and loan associations were allowed to place in such volatile instruments. An investigation into Lincoln Savings and Loan uncovered violations of these regulations, exceeding the limit by over $615
Consequently, the provisions to separate commercial banking from securities and investment firms were regarded as a way to diminish the risk associated with providing such deposit insurance. Although some historians argue that the depression itself is what caused the collapse of the banking system, in 1933 the general consensus was that banks had provoked the failure by engaging in shady and abusive practices with depositor’s money. Congressional hearings conducted in early 1933 seemed to indicate that bankers and brokers were guilty of “disreputable and seemingly dishonest dealings, and gross misuses of the public's trust” (“Understanding How”, 1998). The Glass Steagall act was the main legislative response of President Roosevelt’s administration to the unprecedented financial turmoil that was facing the nation in the middle of a deep depression. It was intended to regulate and stabilize the banking industry, reduce risk, and provide consumers with confidence in the financial
By the mid 20th century, the scale and prominence of corruption had increased dramatically, due to the widespread transition to vast urban cities and industrialized systems. The greed and desperation that resulted from the shift towards industrialism accelerated the growth of corruption in politics. Although the shift to industry was a necessary stepping stone in the development of the modern society existing today, it was accompanied by various consequences to American society and facilitated the corruption of government officials. The exploitation of fellow
of corrupting government officials, taxivision, and fraud. Many lobbyist today are doing a lot of the same things Abramoff did but in a legal ways due to loopholes in the proposal. The government has invested into the use of watchdogs but are they really effective hence their are so many loopholes to get around all the prohibited ideas. The United States needs to tighten lobbying restrictions to help better where all the wasted bribing money could
On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed. The thirteen colonies were no longer under King George III rule. It was a new world that needed a new type of leadership. On July 12, 1776 the Second Congress proposed the Articles of Confederation. The articles were ratified by all thirteen states on March 1, 1781.
declared independence from Great Britain. It was written in 1787 and ratified on March 1st,
First exposed by Lincoln Steffens in 1902 through a magazine article called “Tweed Days in St. Louis”, government corruption was one of largest problems in the Progressive Era. Many big businesses of the time period had formed monopolies or trusts in order to control their industry and increase their power. They used this power to set high prices and increase their wealth. Political machines, which were powerful
For years, America has always been perceived as one of the top world powers due to its ability of achieving so much technological, economical, and social progress within a mere couple decades. Despite their great accomplishments, America is actually regressing psychologically, preventing the country from reaching its true potential as an “opportunity rich” country. In Anthony Burgess’ Is America Falling Apart? , the author unveils the circumstances in which America’s restricting society and selfish ideology cause the nation to develop into the type of society it tried to avoid becoming when it separated from the British Empire.
In “The Great Dictator” Charlie Chaplin said “In this world there is room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls.” What is greed? Greed is an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth. As a citizen of the United States, many have heard of the term the “American Dream”. James Truslow Adams, in his book “The Epic of America”, which was written in 1931, stated that the American dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” (Adams p.214-215). It’s according to this dream that many people acquire this goal of becoming successful at all cost in America. At all cost, meaning they would do anything to gain success. The U.S even though it is based on opportunity has fallen to greed. The U.S citizens have fallen to greed because of selfish desires, wanting to maximize profit, and a strong fixation towards self-growth.
In 1776 when the Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain with the Declaration of Independence they had one clear goal in mind: become a sovereign nation and avoid the tyranny of Great Britain. What they did not know, however, is that they had to face many more issues beyond simply cutting the ties with Great Britain; they also had to create and maintain a working system of rules which could guide them into becoming the United States of America. Once Independence was gained in 1783, the Articles of Confederation were created, but with many deep flaws in the system. The Federal government had no power, and the states were loosely held together and hardly acted as if they were a single united nation. After recognizing that these problems were too large to overcome easily, several of the greatest men in the nation gathered together to rectify these problems.
A lot of people nearly scream their lungs out preaching about how corrupt our nation is, but is it? Could it really be as adulterated as some people make it seem? Granted America is not run exactly as it was originally stated it would be in the Constitution, but as far as “fair” and “equal”, it so much so, that it is almost shackling or ensnaring. No one can allow a word to slip from their lips without someone taking it to heart.
Two Hundred and thirty-seven years ago one of the most masterful documents in history was created, which is The Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence expressed Thomas Jefferson’s along with the fifty-five American colonists’ vision of revolution towards independence, and a new government pronouncing rupture from Great Britain. In the document, Thomas Jefferson, the author, established that if their government fails to protect their inalienable rights to life, pursuit of happiness and liberty the people have the right to eradicate it. The Declaration of Independence was ratified declaring the United States free and independent on July 4th, 1776. This document was evidently very influentially serious and meaningful as all those men promised to, “Mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Thus, the Declaration of Independence was a successful document due to Jefferson appealing most effectively through diction, syntax, literary devices and most importantly rhetoric to justify the renouncement from the British Crown.
Eleven score and nineteen years ago, we became the United States of America after the Continental Congress signed the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. This document would change American history forever by being a factor in America gaining its freedom from Great Britain. This document was the United States’s way of telling Britain we were declaring independence and gave justification as to why they were. The document was written by Thomas Jefferson, a member of the Continental Congress; but it was edited several times by other members of the congress such as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. The Declaration of Independence had many significant event that led to its creation, arguments that were parallel to other famous documents
America and more specifically, the Framers of the Constitution, recognized that they were in a unique position. They had the opportunity to write history by drafting a document that would create a system of government and a country that had never been conceived before. With this responsibility in mind, they drafted the Constitution, which unified the Colonies into one single country and created a federalist governmental system (Cummings 2015, 85). Despite these advances, the Constitution remained grounded in the values of the Declaration and had provisions embedded within it that the Framers hoped would safeguard against the injustices and tyranny suffered under Britain from being repeated again in their new republic (Cummings 2015, 85). This paper will explore this relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the unamended Constitution of 1787 by examining the texts of both documents, along with ideas of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. This will reveal that the Constitution attempted to create a system of government that was consistent with the principles of the Declaration of
America's Moral Decline One of the most pressing problems facing America today is our moral crisis. This problem is one that is related to many other social dilemmas. It has a correlation to our rising crime rate, drug usage, and a trend towards sexual irresponsibility. It is imminent for Americans to find a cure for this moral disease, lest we are bound for chaos. In order to solve this problem, we must first, as with any problem, determine the cause.
Lobbying is an enormous business. A lobbyist is an advocate who seek outs to influence members of the government (like members of Congress) to endorse legislation that would advantage their group. The lobbying occupation is a lawful and essential part of our democratic political procedure that is not extremely well implicit by the broad population. While the majority people think of lobbyists only as paid experts, there are as well a lot of volunteer lobbyists. Anyone who appeals the government or contacts their member of Congress to say an view is functioning as a lobbyist. Lobbying is a synchronized industry and a guarded activity beneath the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that assurances rights to free assembly, speech,and petition. [Briggs, Emily Edson]