In a poll surveying popular feeling about the trustworthiness of persons in various vocations politicians ranked next to the bottom of the scale, just above car salesmen.
Skunks and wolves were off the bottom of the scale, although there are pet skunks, pet wolves and pet politicians. Owners of such subhuman pets are few in number, but almost everyone tries to own a piece of a politician with clout. There is an old adage, People get the government – and the politicians – they deserve. Politicians are put in office to serve the wants of those who put them there.
Years ago, in the early 1900’s, Lincoln Steffens did a series of case studies of corruption in government. One such study, in the city of Boston, analyzed the political machine of Boss Martin Lomasney. Lomasney explained to Steffens exactly how the thing worked – who got and who gave. Steffens challenged the boss and his machine to try to give Boston honest government. The challenge was accepted and the crew studied the possibilities, but after a year they gave up. They learned that if they gave honest government they would be thrown out of office by some of the people who complained about graft. A corrupt government results from the demands made on politicians by people who want special favors outside the law.
A few years ago I was talking with a businessman in Miami about a zoning variance which ruined the symmetry of a residential neighborhood. I asked him how it happened. He replied that there were some payoffs. I wondered why they didn’t elect honest officials, to which he answered, “If officials stayed honest in this city, they couldn’t be reelected.”
Politicians know the attitudes and the wants of their constituents, and try to work out compromises to satisfy their conflicting interests. They do this by catering to as many requests as possible and accumulating a bunch of IOU’s to be redeemed on Election Day. Politicians are no better nor worse than the voters who put them in office.
To paraphrase Cassius in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, the fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we have corrupt government. Or to quote Pogo (only people over 40 knew him), “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The prostitutes, the shady hustler, the traffic law violators push through the precinct committeemen or the ward chairmen to have their misdemeanors overlooked by police and judges. They are joined by developers and builders who want building codes eased and violations ignored, and by business owners and managers who want health and safety regulations, and environmental protection requirements, forgotten.
Huge defense contractors bill the government for hundreds of millions of dollars in excess and illicit costs, and if a low level government worker whistles down the deal, he is shipped off to bureaucratic nether land, responding to pressure from the corporate executives and their well-placed stooges. To top it off the president of a major brokerage firm invites the attorney general of the United States to lunch and discusses the problem of the government’s discovery of more than 2,000 dishonest deals which cheated banks out of millions of dollars of earned interest. The result of the discussion: no person is charged with any offense.
It reminds me of the story in the New Testament (John 8:1-11) according to which a woman taken in the act of adultery was brought to Jesus for judgment. “Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone her.” Jesus replied, “Let him that is without sin among you first cast a stone.” One by one the accusers slunk away. Jesus asked the woman, “Did no man accuse you?” “No one,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn thee,” was the Master’s judgment.
Passing judgment on the honesty of politicians too often demands that we point a finger at ourselves.
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