(June 9, 2014 at 1:37 pm)DeistPaladin Wrote:(June 9, 2014 at 12:55 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Bribery has always been "a thing." Now it is merely more obvious.
In America, corruption is so interwoven into the democratic process that it's not even hidden and anyone who doesn't play along is going to get buried by it. Representatives are bought and sold on the open market though bribes that are called "campaign contributions". Money officially counts more than popularity, as America is officially no longer a democracy but an oligarchy.
In America, political ethics and campaign finance laws (the latter of which are being rapidly stripped away by a corporate controlled Supreme Court) try to make a distinction between good corruption and bad corruption. It's no secret that moneyed interests have a lock on the political process. It's all done out in the open, right before our eyes.
The only solution to this problem is to ban all form of paid political advertisement, replacing them with frequent debates conducted under oath, where lying to the American people is punishable by perjury charges.
Hyperbole much?