Preventing Corruption In Congress

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Pages: 7

Corruption is a condition that is avoidable, if the public and the government take actions to prevent it. Such prevention includes eliminating the weaknesses in our legislative body that have given corruption an opportunity to flourish. Some believe that corruption is inevitable and it is justified on the basis that legislators sometimes have to compromise in order to stay in office and serve the people in other good ways. However, this is not the case in Congress because Congress is not representative or responsive. Congress is not serving the people, and this is demonstrated in the unproductivity of the legislative body. Congress continues to further isolate itself from the public. Legislators write complex legislation that an average citizen …show more content…
If members of the Senate and the House can easily be bribed then they should not be in office. Turnover is essential is preventing corruption. With turnover, we can ensure that there are fewer members like Senator Paine and more members such as Mr. Smith. We must ensure that we are giving equal opportunities to individuals to be in office. In the film, the Senate selected Mr. Smith not on the basis of his merits, but on the fact that they believed he could be easily manipulated and controlled. Corruption can be avoided if we have constant turnover. The longer members are in office, the more they know about manipulating the legislative system. Members of Congress are the ones who are corrupting the legislation system and we must change the way they are appointed and control their time in office to ensure that we have effective representation. Additionally, we need accountability in Congress, we need members who are honest and are motivated to creat legilsation that benefits the people not special interest …show more content…
Big businesses and special interest groups have been able to bribe legislators to advance legislations that benefit them. In exchange legislators have compromised their ethics to benefit themselves as well. Corruption is only inevitable, if we continue to allow it to happen. If we do not stop corruption, then we can only expect for our institution to go downhill from here. Corruption in our Congress should not be allowed; we must fix the weaknesses in our legislative body that allow opportunities for scrutiny and bribery. Corruption in the legislative body has gone on for too long, it cannot be justified on the basis that it is to better serve the people. This is not the case in Congress; Congress members are not serving the interests of the people. As a result, more and more citizens show dissatisfaction with Congress. Congress is not serving the people it is non-representative and non-responsive. If we continue to accept corruption as a factor that is part of legislation, then we will continue to undermine the institution and the lawmaking process. We should not fill our Congress with members who are easily able to compromise their ethics and morals. Our current incumbents have had two to six years to make a difference and change the legislation process. They have not attempted to do anything about it, this demonstrates the type of corrupt individuals that serve in Congress These members are concerned with their