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If our government were not corrupt, would it still function?

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October 19, 2017, 10:26 AM
nhtagmember
If our government were not corrupt, would it still function?
I think about this a lot and wonder what it really costs us but my general thought is that if we were able to root out ALL corruption, we could probably have a smooth running government about 5% the size it is now and we'd be running a surplus rather than a deficit

I think anyone that gets caught taking bribes or pork should be charged with the maximum possible crimes against the country


[B] Against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC

October 19, 2017, 11:16 AM
sjtill
I think you need to reduce the functions of government, so that the stakes are not as high and the free market can function better: that would reduce the “need” for corruption.


_________________________
“Remember, remember the fifth of November!"
October 19, 2017, 12:39 PM
JALLEN
quote:
Originally posted by sjtill:
I think you need to reduce the functions of government, so that the stakes are not as high and the free market can function better: that would reduce the “need” for corruption.


Look at what the federal government led by Calvin Coolidge looked like, the bureaus, functions, activities.

I think this is the last one the Founders would recognize as similar to what they had imagined in the Constitution ... well, Hoover, too, I guess.

Now, instead of the 3 branches of government each with well defined duties, prohibitions, roles, there is a 4th branch, independent agencies, directly answerable to neither Congress, the President or even the people. They were setup under the guise of removing the matter within their portfolios from the distractions of politics, handled by experts. Trouble is, it turns out, there are no right or wrong answers, only choices. Those choices inevitably boil down to politics, how choices should be made in our system. Let the people, or people’s directly elected representatives, decide.



Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown