This week I decided to attend one of our class’s extra credit opportunities. I went to the “Porks and Earmarks” presentation, and I must say I learned quite a bit more than I expected to. There were three speakers, two from California State University, and one of our very own from our Vancouver campus. The speakers referred to earmarks as “directive spending”. Congress members are able to evaluate what they believe are important projects in their representative districts and petition to receive funding for these projects from their fellow Congress members. This all seems like a great idea, except when you have people abusing this very system. Corruption within the legislative branch, Congress members trading earmarks for luxurious items, or coercing other members to vote for their own earmarks. An example of this abuse is Jack Abramoff, a former Republican lobbyist. On January 3, 2006, he pled guilty to three criminal felony counts in Washington, D.C. He was guilty for defrauding American Indian tribes and corruption of political officials. This is just one example of the corruption occurring within our legislative branch. Many other government officials have been prosecuted in relation to the Jack Abramoff case.
Because we have been talking about democracy, I thought it might be interesting to post so far what our current candidates for the President of the United States have spent so far on their campaigns. Hilary Clinton has spent $ 80, 353, 785.00. Barack Obama has spent $85,176,289.00. Mitt Romney spent $87,644,955.00 on his campaign before he decided to suspend his campaign. John McCain has spent $39,145,649.00. So where exactly is all this money coming from? This money is coming from corporations interested in putting their economic and political agendas at the top of the list by “donating” large sums of money to candidates desperate for cash. Just as an example, Robert Zoellick, who happens to be the President of the World Bank has contributed $2,300.00 so far in John McCain’s campaign. Now, that is not to point any fingers at John McCain. I just think it is important to show how people in high places like Mr. Zoellick use their money to make sure they keep their power.
I have made a lot of changes to my blog. There are ways to get involved, and other things that you should look over! Make sure to check out the “How to Get Involved” page! I know that there isn’t a ton of information provided just yet, but I am really working on finding credible sources.
My blog is about the corruption in the United States government. More specifically, I would like to address the social justice issue of how lobbyists for industries i.e. Corporate elites use their “donations” as a means of obtaining their political and economic agendas. I chose this issue, because I believe that this truly affects everyone, from the United States government’s officials, to the citizens of the United States, and even people across the world. One side of the debate believes only a select few are making decisions in our government. Of course, there is another side to the debate. This side believes the government is run just as stated in our Constitution.
