Is America above corruption?

I remember it like it was yesterday, stepping off the plane in Puerto Rico, for the first time in my recallable life. I was eighteen years old, facing one of the most troubling times of my youth knowing that this trip could not have come at a better time in my life. I was excited by the mere thought of meeting my grandfather for the first time, and getting to know the man I had heard so much about. I can still remember the mixed thoughts as I grabbed my luggage and stepped out beyond baggage claim, to a sea of screaming Puerto Ricans all looking for that relative, friend or loved one to step through the doors. Will he really be there? Is this going to go down yet another funny story about how abuelo (grandpa) forgot something important? But it didn’t and within minutes I had been spotted by my cousin, and waved over. There he was the man, the legend (well in my eyes anyway) it’s funny how much he reminded me of dad. Same face, same build, same mannerisms, everything down to a tee as if the genetic markers that made up my father had simply been copied identically, with no variations.

Five minutes in the car and I had managed to size up the man I would be spending two weeks with. As I’ve said, he shared many of the same characteristics as my own father, and even played some of the silly math games my dad would often play with me. “X number of miles from here to the house we’ll be staying at tonight. At x km per hour, how long until we get there?” I really didn’t have a chance to answer, since he answered for me, and moved the conversation over to questions about my father, mother, brother and sister.

As we drove through Puerto Rico’s mountainous roads, my grandfather would point out to me various buildings or roads that he had a hand in creating, or better yet, getting the funding for. Achievements that he, as a Representative in the house of Puerto Rico, was both proud and responsible for. Over the next two weeks I would hear story after story about how my grandfather had gotten approval for someone’s land to get a paved road to it, so that they could move their goods easier. I heard about how my grandfather had played a part in getting someone work, or helped to bring business to his town, which provided work to hundreds. These things intrigued me and made the allure of my grandfather all the more greater. Here was a man who was making a difference, who was beloved by most of the people around him, and who had managed to work his way from nothing, to become a politician known by many on the island.

I share this story, because part of me wishes that I hadn’t learned the rest of the story. Part of me wishes that I had clung to my naiveté and not dug deeper into what made my grandfather a great politician. After two weeks in Puerto Rico I had witnessed first hand how things got done in politics. “I will do this for you, if you can find it in your heart to do this for me”, “Please fix this issue for me, and I can guarantee that I will agree with you” This was the world my grandfather lived in, and after two weeks I had begun to think of him with even more childlike awe. Like most of the politicians everywhere my grandfather did business in quid pro quo. I never did ask if any of those favors were unsatisfactory to him, I guess I was too busy admiring the knowledge that he got things done. I’ve compared him many times to Don Corleone, without the threats and murder. I’ve imagined him trading one service for another, marking his mental ledger of debts and assets, and like all politicians everywhere compromising his beliefs at some point for what he believed to be the better good. We lost him to prostate cancer, some years back, so I cannot ask him if he had any regrets, I’m left only with the stories shared at family reunions, weddings and funerals.

What I do have is my own memories of the few conversations we had after he retired to Florida, and of course that trip to Puerto Rico. I look back on my trip often with happiness for many reasons. My first introduction to the man that sired my father, my first real taste of freedom as a young man, the experience of meeting family members I had only heard of in stories whenever family would come from Puerto Rico. But now as I look back and remember the few political lessons I learned while over there, none sticks closer to my memory more than the something for something mentality of political life. None makes me shudder more than the thought that in all of this compromise, somewhere along the line someone always gets hurt.

This thought first struck me years ago while speaking to my wife’s relatives in Santo Domingo. They were explaining to me the way things were on the island, and sharing some of the things they’d wish would change. At the top of their list was the corruption. Police who looked the other way for money, even when crimes had been committed, or worse police who made up charges in order to get a little extra money on the side. Roadblocks set up solely for the purpose of collecting money for trumped up traffic charges. Officials who could be paid to speed up some process or another, or move your cause to the front of the list. This made me think of the corruption my grandfather told me about in Puerto Rico, which made me wonder if this was simply a Latin American tradition, or if it was felt throughout the world.

You see as a young 25 year old American, clueless about the world, and still in school, I could never bring myself to believe that my country, the US was involved in anything so devious. Sure I had heard about the crooked cops growing up in NY, and I had heard about how politicians were corrupt and how money purchased power, but I had also seen the many movies which focused on the best in our country. The lone hero, who goes against the odds to overcome corruption and put the bad guys in jail; that was still my outlook on American life as a whole.

The older I got, the more I started to pay attention to politics and deciding where I stood and what I stood for, the more disenfranchised I became with politicians as a whole. I guess it’s part of growing up, shedding the blinders you carry through college, starting a family, and learning what it really takes to be a man. It’s just part of the normal order of things, but is it right? This business as usual mentality in Washington which leads to a favor for a favor, a vote for a small blurb that will benefit a constituent of in some far off county, but deny the government needed tax dollars down the line. Politicians always speak of this with the utmost disgust they come up with all sorts of creative names to describe this practice, as if they too weren’t sucking at the quid pro quo teat. Pork, earmarks, special interests… all names to describe the same practice, all names to hide the true words which should be used, but that might remind them of a compromised moral along the way. Corruption, greed, payoffs, bribery, these are the words covered up by the niceties of Washington.

The concept is simple detract attention from the problems at hand, and make everyone think you don’t partake of these practices. Stand up on the soap box and rally against spending and the spenders, cry foul on the lobbyists, and special interests, but never, ever do a thing to fix the issue. How simple would it be to just correct the issue? How much better would this country be if the next president pushed a law which forced congress to independently submit each bill, and no longer allowed the practice of over inflating a bill with pork? How much more beneficial would it be to the country, if lobbyists and special interest groups were removed from Washington, and the surrounding area, under threat of arrest?

While this may sound extreme, it is sorely needed. Lobbyists have done to Washington what sports agents have done to Baseball and several other popular sports. They’ve injected greed, and corrupted what probably started out with desire and passion. Now, just as it’s rare to see a player who plays for the love of the game, so too is it rare to see a politician still in politics to make a difference. After a few years of wheeling and dealing in Washington, even the most noble, most pure at heart begin to think that they too can cut corners, and those who went in looking to make a change, wind up changed themselves.

As I showed last week, with just one bill, Washington has become a breeding ground for corruption. Everyone knows it, everyone would love to change it, you hear the grumblings from Americans in both the red and the blue states, but it has become so ingrained in the Washington culture, that it would take drastic measures to correct the problem. The problem is two fold, on the one hand we have the politicians who have become part of the problem, and on the other we have the apathetic voters who prolong the problem.

You see we could fix this quickly if Americans everywhere would simply pay attention to their surroundings. We could end the corruption if Americans would stop handing over their freedoms and hopes to government, and simply read up on the issues. In this modern internet age, we could demand that they post a website which describes each bill’s highlights, with a list of each added earmark and who submitted it. I guarantee that if most of American knew of the garbage stuffed into the recent bailout, they would have called, written, emailed, and flooded their representative with demands that he/she not vote for the bill. Somehow it seems that with all of our technology, all of our knowledge, we Americans have become less informed and less interested in current affairs.

Have Americans become so lazy, so uninterested in their own futures, that they turn a blind eye to corruption in their leaders? Where in all this is the media? Where is the unofficial fourth branch with its straight no nonsense fact telling? Why does it seem that our media focuses more on which celebrity is doing a stint in rehab, or which politician had sex with a call girl or got a DUI? Why not focus into the very problem that has eaten away at this country for too long? Why not expose the back room deals which seem to be moving this once great country on a steady path to third world status, where the will and well being of the people takes a back seat to the pockets of our elected officials and those who control them? The reason is simple, we have allowed it. We care more about which teen idol is pregnant than we do about which tax bill will benefit us. We crave it like a drug, and in doing so give up our right to the real knowledge that can help us in the end.

Has America become as corrupt as those countries you hear about and take pity on? Yes we have. We could solve it all by staying more informed, and actually taking an interest in our country’s day to day politics. I have presented just a few suggestions that I feel could help, but will they actually be heard? This is entirely up to us. This web of lies and greed can only be broken by information, and knowledge. This chain can only be broken by its weakest link and that is the American people. So until next time, go out an vote, do the research, learn about the issues, and speak your minds America, because the alternative is grim at best.