Both on Tuesday, the team behind Civics 101 All NHPR things are considered to be talking about how our democratic institutions really work.
This week, the host of Civics 101 Hannah McCarthy spoke with Michelle Liu de NHPR corruption in politicsHow much it influences our policies and what can be done to prevent it.
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Transcription
Let’s start by defining it. What is and what’s not political corruption?
Corruption can be a bit of an inflammatory word. So, stripping it to its form, corruption is a legal term, but it is not a specific term. This can mean corruption, extortion, fraud, even nepotism. But in general, corruption means using authority for personal purposes. But it is not always a crime. So, by bringing this to political corruption, we can say that when someone who has been elected to act at the service of the public uses their power for a financial gain or other personal advantages, that is to say corruption. It does not even necessarily have to harm the constituents directly, but it erodes public confidence in representatives and in the system itself. And in terms of what is not political corruption, you know, I think you could say, well, an action is not political corruption when someone does not abuse their authority. But really, this question is important insofar as people often accuse corruption politicians when this politician does something they don’t like or that they do not understand.
And what is the size of a role that money plays to influence politics and our politicians?
Yes, then believe it or not, Michelle, this question has no clear and provable answer. The data suggests that money plays a role in the influence of politicians and politicians. Prove that this is an incredibly elusive goal. And for these listeners who currently cry: “Of course,” on their radio, believe me, I hear you. I think the way of responding for yourself is to ask yourself if you are considering corruption in a single legislation or a change in policy. Have a politician or friends of a politician or apparent commercial interests benefited financially from the exercise of their power? We can probably call this corruption. Does this cycle of personal services occur again and again? We can probably say that we are examining a disproportionate influence of money in politics. And do politicians tell us that money in politics is corrupted politics? And do they tell us that without any apparent advantage for them personally? Okay, then we can reasonably guess that they could be right. And I know that it could be a very frustrating answer, but because corruption is often entirely legal and often in the open air, drawing a line from money to influence on this is a problem is surprisingly difficult for journalists who are supposed to find and report the truth rather than speculate.
So what has been done in the past to prevent political corruption and what can we do now?
Okay, I like this question because I think this is where politicians and the public can fill the gap between blatant corruption and recognize that it is a problem. So some would say that influence and corruption have found new roots and have reached new heights. And Michelle, I like / hate telling you that the answer, as usual, is the voter. You know, if the voters do not care about money and politics or corruption in politics or if they care, but they do not show it with their vote or by calling their representative and essentially shaping this representative to adopt laws – and these are laws that have been proposed. These are not imaginary laws. (These are) laws designed to slow down corruption. Then, corruption is likely to take its momentum. And just remember that people who have power want to keep this power. The non -corrupt manner to maintain power must be given to him by the voter, not by societies.