Everyone has an abundance of life experience prior to
gaining any elected office. This leads to the creation of regulations of what
you can and cannot do while in that office. At any level it is important that
the elected official act in the best interests of his/her constituents while
functioning in that position. Each level of government, and even more
specifically each office often has its own set of regulations and guidelines to
make certain that the elected officials knows what he or she is allowed to do.
I can tell you from experience that there are very strict
obligations at the very lowest level of government, and that even the
appearance of impropriety in this regard can lead to significant concern, and
then trouble for those involved. Unfortunately, our society seems to make a
joke of the idea that all politicians are corrupt, in my experience nothing
could be farther from the truth. There are however, significant opportunities
to act in a corrupt manner.
When someone is tasked with managing the budget, or the
resources of a community, they need to be steadfast in those dealings. When
managing someone else’s money, transparency in private business, and in the
public’s business is of the utmost importance. In some cases this is a very
hard lesson for new politicians to understand. One of the very first things
some small towns do is put new officials through an orientation, so that these
rules can be explained.
There are two different concerns that I feel might be a
concern with President-Elect Trump. The first and the one being reported on
most by the media is the ‘Emoluments Clause’. This is in reference to Article I
section IX, clause VIII, and a possible violation of this clause. Now I will
admit that I did not know the exact definition of the word ‘emolument’, I know
most of you use the word all the time, but I do not so I went ahead and looked
it up. Emolument means: “ the returns arising from office or employment usually
in the form of compensation or perquisites”. (Merriam-Webster)
Now this basically states, as I understand it that the
President can not be bribed. From my perspective, that only takes care of half
of the problem. The President-Elect has a myriad of business holding through
out the world. This was one of the reasons some people felt that he should be
elected to the office in the first place.
However, these same interests might be getting in the way.
In some countries there is an expectation of bribery in business dealings. In
response to this the US government passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of
1977. This Act does not allow American companies to bribe foreign officials to garner
business. (Hamilton, 1981) So not only can the President not take a
bribe, but he/she can not be seen as offering a bribe either, if it just so
happens that he has private business concerns.
President Trump is on record as saying that the law is
‘horrible’ and that countries such as Mexico and China that allow bribes,
should be the watchdogs for this sort of behavior. (Silverstein, 2015) There are
rumors that President-Elect Trump spoke to elected officials in both Great
Britain, and in South America about various personal business dealings. Can we
be sure that there was no offer of special political favors if the private
concerns were properly addressed?
Is this making ‘America Great Again’ fulfilling our national destiny as a
‘Shining City on a Hill’, showing our ‘Exceptionality’, or is this just about
creating a business advantage and making us even with countries that have no
labor protections or expectations of transparency?
Bibliography
Hamilton,
M. (1981, May 22nd). Hill Told Bribe Law Suspension Would Boost Worldwide
Pact. Washington Post .
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Emolument. Retrieved from
Merriam-Webster.com: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emolument
Silverstein, E. (2015, August). Donald Trump has called
the FCPA a 'horrible' law. Inside Counsel .
As I approach my 40th birthday, it might make sense that I have mellowed, relaxed, chilled or “slowed my roll”. Churchill
said “If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart,
if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain?”. I decided not to
google the quote but am certain it is something like that. Hell, since this is a blog about laziness, I’m going to google the term now and get you the exact quote. The summer is upon us, and it truly is not the heat, but the stupidity that disturbs me.
Whether it is the idiocy of Representative Weiner who along with countless others does not understand the ramifications of cyberspace communications, or the countless politicians who have taken leave of their respective senses and are about to drive the shaky economic recovery over a cliff, because they don’t understand what the debt ceiling is. I’m giving them credit; they might want to destroy numerous Americans’ jobs for political gain. Neither ignorance nor political avarice are terribly attractive in politicians.
Everyone reading this blog is probably very well aware of the debt ceiling debate as well as the various and tawdry personal scandals that pervade Congress, lately. The real question is “ Why should anyone be surprised?” I’m concerned about the possibility of federal default because I have a job that is at least partially federally funded. (I figure full disclosure is the way to go.) I also have numerous friends that are unemployed, and a default probably won’t help them in their various searches for gainful employment.
Honestly though, why is it surprising that politicians are acting like idiots. Look at the way we disrespect education in this country. Most industrialized countries in the world are putting a greater emphasis on education than we are? If anyone really needs an outside source on this one here it is. No matter which state you are reading this from, it is almost a certainty that schools in your community are having funding cut. With funding cuts teachers have to do more with less. While the education system us being starved, the American public has become enamored of shows such as Jersey Shore and various other reality T.V. shows. It has also become almost a political liability to be perceived as intellectual. To be fair, that problem appears to go back to the 1950s at least in Presidential elections.
As I approach my 40th birthday, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t want my politicians to be someone who I can have a beer with. I don’t want every tawdry detail of their respective lives on a 24-hour feed. I want these people to understand the ramifications of their actions both in relation to legislation, and personal restraint so that they might set forth the best path for our country. In return, we as citizens should be expected to educate ourselves, and take responsibility for our children and what they do.
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