Politics + Money = Corruption

That's a truism across time and space -- but has it gotten worse?

Jeffrey Birnbaum has this in the Post: "For several years now, corporations and other wealthy interests have made ever-larger campaign contributions, gifts and sponsored trips part of the culture of Capitol Hill. But now, with fresh guilty pleas by a lawmaker and a public relations executive, federal prosecutors -- and perhaps average voters -- may be concluding that the commingling of money and politics has gone too far."

True enough. Quite a few Congressmen (mostly Republicans) have been indicted or are under investigation for so-called "improper conduct".

Here's Kevin Drum: "[T]he evidence indicates that Birnbaum is basically right: most voters don't pay much attention to politics and don't understand that it's mostly Republicans who have been gaming the system in unprecedented numbers in recent years."

Democrats have been guilty of "improper conduct" in the past, of course, but, whether the public knows it or not, it's the other party that's making a mockery of political ethics and ensuring that the old truism lives on.

**********

See MyDD, The Next Hurrah, The Huffington Post, and Bull Moose.