The following letter was sent to Rep. Rush Holt following an appearance in West Windsor.
In your last Town Meeting, I asked you a question to elicit your response to the prevalent corruption I see in our government and in our major institutions. I observed that money-bag politics and crony capitalism define the interaction between big business and government, that numerous and most serious crimes have been committed by individuals at the highest government and private levels, within their official capacities, without judicial investigation, let alone criminal prosecution. On your website, you don’t even list corruption in government as a topic of concern, and I asked you why not.
Your response was as troubling as the corruption itself. You acknowledged that there is some corruption and criminal activity, but that this isn’t really new, and most of what I see is a result of the facts that privileged people have always managed to influence government, that much of this influence is not illegal, that some of that influence is necessary in a democracy, and that some of my concern is a result of a frustration arising because I don’t see resolutions happening as fast as I’d like them to. You finished by saying you wouldn’t even use the word “corruption” to describe much of what I was referring to.
Perhaps we disagree on a definition? In our country, we now have privileged people with enough money, power, and guile enough to collude with and influence government officials at the highest levels to change/write the laws to suit the very perpetrators of this dreadful behavior. Here, the influence of such individuals reaches far into the workings of government on a daily and widespread basis to the extent that, when such people break the laws, government officials at the highest levels consistently look the other way. What do you call that? The ultimate price here –– the scale of what we are talking about –– is vast sums of money and the killing of thousands of innocent human beings through countless actions involving all national and international workings of government.
I call this corruption because that’s what it is; the legal system has been corrupted to serve a small group of people having vested interests in finance, energy, military, and social programs. We all know it.
The February, 2012, Rasmussen report showed that 61 percent of the people consider “Government Ethics and Corruption” to be “Very Important.” Only two other issues, “The Economy,” and “Health Care,” achieved a higher percentage, and it beat out all others, including, “Taxes,” “Education,” and “Social Security.” So why again don’t you think we have a corruption problem?
I can certainly understand why you, as a politician, would not acknowledge that the government is corrupt. Might you then feel that your constituency would expect you to do something about it? If so, you’re only partly right. I think your constituency expects you to do something about it even though you don’t acknowledge it. We know it’s there. You would do well to tell us what we already know.
What do you think are the implications that young people growing up today are learning that you can break any law you want, as long as you’re privileged enough and the law is big enough? For a congressman who shows great concern for the education of children, you seem blind to how such corruption affects our youth. Do you think you’re saving them from corruption by not acknowledging corruption?
In your response to my question, you also said that, apart from particulars, my question could’ve been asked in town meetings throughout the history of the country, implying that there’s nothing really new going on now. Maybe so, but I add that your response could’ve also been given by Boss Tweed and officials in the Grant and Harding administrations, during periods in which our government was famously corrupt. You also said that the Dodd-Frank bill didn’t do enough and that Congress still needs to get it “right,” displaying confidence that it will some day happen. You will never get it right. The reason you didn’t get it right the first time was because of corruption, and you can never get any such important legislation right until you first acknowledge the extent of corruption within the legislative process itself –– then fix it!
They say a fish doesn’t know what water is because it lives in it. Maybe that analogy explains your response, and perhaps I only have to wait for the political tide to shift, to when nearly every congressperson is shouting, “The end with corruption!” It is then you will perhaps jump on the bandwagon, but of course, only that many more trillions of dollars and innocent human lives will have been lost in maintaining the most unfortunate status quo.
Tom Tonon
Princeton Junction
