Changes

[[File:Puck112188.jpg|thumb|550px|Do newspaper expose or endorse corruption? Nasty little printing devils spew forth from the [[Hoe press]] in the cartoon from ''Puck'' magazine, Nov. 21, 1888]]

[[File:Puck112188.jpg|thumb|550px|Do newspaper expose or endorse corruption? Nasty little printing devils spew forth from the [[Hoe press]] in the cartoon from ''Puck'' magazine, Nov. 21, 1888]]

== Corruption and politics==

==Founding Fathers==

Corruption was the great evil the [[Founding Fathers]] confronted. When Britain showed too much corruption, it was time to break free with the [[American Revolution]].  To overcome the temptations of corruption--such as luxury and bribery--in their own lives, the Founding Fathers cultivated the virtue of disinterestedness. That is, the made a conscious effort to not be the creature of his financial interests, and not give any sign to the public that they sought luxury or bribes. The goal was to be impartial, concerned only for the public good, not the advancement of friends or, still less, of party.  

As Bailyn (1968) demonstrated, fear of corruption by the conservative forces in britain and American was the single most important impulse for the [[Founding Fathers]] to distruct the royal government, embrace [[republicanism]] and insist on civic virtue for all citizens. Threats to free government, most Americans (and some British "country party" critics ) believed, lurked everywhere, but nowhere more dangerously than in the designs of ministers in office to aggrandize power by the corrupt use of influence, and by this means ultimately to destroy the balance of the constitution. "Corruption!" was as universal a cry in the colonies as it was in England, and with it came the same belief that tyranny, already dominant over most of the earth, was continuing to spread its menace and was threatening even that greatest bastion of liberty, England itself. In the colonies the executive was legally far stronger than in England, but circumstances - such as inflexible royal instructions, encroachments on the governors patronage, the more democratic nature of colonial politics, the impermanency of the governors tenure, and the possibility of going over the governors heads and appealing directly to authorities in England - worked to reduce radically the influence of the colonial governors. With an indeterminate leadership, an unstable economic structure, and the exertion by colonial governments of creative power unknown to 18th-century England, the colonial political system was troubled, contentious, even explosive, evoking, as it did, both the belief that faction was seditious and the fear that the government was corrupt and threatened the survival of liberty. English constitutional theory offered a mode of comprehension of such an inflamed, anomalous politics; and it is this mode of understanding that forms the background of the American Revolution.<ref> Bernard Bailyn, ''The Origin of American Politics'' (1968)</ref>

 

Corruption was thus the great evil the Founding Fathers confronted. When Britain escalated its defense of corruption in 1773-75, it was time to break free with the [[American Revolution]].   

To overcome the temptations of corruption--such as luxury and bribery--in their own lives, the Founding Fathers cultivated the virtue of disinterestedness. That is, the made a conscious effort to not be the creature of his financial interests, and not give any sign to the public that they sought luxury or bribes. The goal was to be impartial, concerned only for the public good, not the advancement of friends or, still less, of party.  

The Founding Fathers sought "Honor" --freedom from corruption, and a positive devotion to civic virtue.  These were key elements of [[Republicanism]], and the Founding Fathers made republicanism the core values of the American system of government.  

The Founding Fathers sought "Honor" --freedom from corruption, and a positive devotion to civic virtue.  These were key elements of [[Republicanism]], and the Founding Fathers made republicanism the core values of the American system of government.  

Even personal shame and humiliation was preferable to a tarnished honor or the hint of corruption. When Treasury Secretary [[Alexander Hamilton]] was accused of corruption for making secret payments to a man named James Reynolds, Hamilton revealed he had been set up and was paying blackmail to Reynolds following an affair with Mrs. Reynolds. Duels over honor were common in the era--Hamilton was killed in one, as was Hamilton's son.

Even personal shame and humiliation was preferable to a tarnished honor or the hint of corruption. When Treasury Secretary [[Alexander Hamilton]] was accused of corruption for making secret payments to a man named James Reynolds, Hamilton revealed he had been set up and was paying blackmail to Reynolds following an affair with Mrs. Reynolds. Duels over honor were common in the era--Hamilton was killed in one, as was Hamilton's son.

Corruption continues to be the greatest threat to [[republicanism]], and is a red flag for both parties in the U.S., even though both parties have been guilty.  

Corruption continues to be the greatest threat to [[republicanism]], and is a red flag for both parties in the U.S., even though both parties have been guilty.

 

==Nazi Germany==

==Nazi Germany==

{{Nazi bureaucracy and corruption}}

{{Nazi bureaucracy and corruption}}