Every other Tuesday, the team behind Civics 101 joins NHPR’s All Things Considered to talk about how our democratic institutions actually work.
This week, Civics 101 host Hannah McCarthy spoke with NHPR’s Michelle Liu about corruption in politics, how much it influences our policies and what can be done to prevent it.
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Transcript
Let's start by defining it. What is and what isn't political corruption?
Corruption can be a bit of an inflammatory word. So stripping it down to its form, corruption is a legal term, but it is not a precise term. It can mean bribery, extortion, fraud, even nepotism. But broadly speaking, corruption means using authority for personal gain. But it is not always a crime. So bringing this around to political corruption, we can say that when someone who has been elected to act in the service of the public then uses their power for financial gain or other personal benefits, that is corruption. It doesn't even necessarily have to hurt constituents directly, but it does erode public trust in representatives and in the system itself. And in terms of what is not political corruption, you know, I think you could say, well, an action is not political corruption when someone isn't abusing their authority for their own benefit. But really, this question is important insofar as people often accuse politicians of corruption when that politician does something they don't like or they don't understand.
And how big of a role does money play in influencing policy and our politicians?
Yeah, so believe it or not, Michelle, this question does not have a clear, provable answer. Data suggests that money plays a role in influencing policy and politicians. Proving it is an incredibly elusive goal. And for those listeners currently yelling, "of course it does" at their radio, believe me, I hear you. I think the way to answer this question for yourself is to ask whether you are looking at corruption in any one piece of legislation or policy shift. Did a politician or a politician's friends or apparent business interests benefit financially from the exercise of their power? We can probably call that corruption. Is this personal benefit cycle happening over and over again? We can probably say that we're looking at an outsized influence of money in politics. And are politicians telling us that money in politics is corrupting politics? And are they telling us that with no apparent benefit to them personally? Okay, then we can reasonably guess they might be right. And I know that this might be a very frustrating answer, but because corruption is often entirely legal and often happening out in the open, drawing a line from money to influence to this is a problem is a surprisingly difficult task for journalists who are supposed to find and report the truth rather than speculate.
So what has been done in the past to prevent political corruption and what can be done now?
Okay, I love this question because I think this is where politicians and the public can close the gap between blatant corruption and acknowledging that it is a problem. So some would say influence and corruption has found new roots and hit new highs. And Michelle, I love/hate to tell you that the answer, per usual, is the voter. You know, if constituents don't care about money and politics or corruption in politics or they care, but they don't show it with their vote or by calling their representative and essentially shaming that representative into passing laws -- And these are laws that have been proposed, by the way. They are not imaginary laws. [They are] laws designed to curb corruption. Then corruption is likely to ride its own momentum. And just remember that people who have power want to keep that power. The non-corrupt way to maintain power is to be given it by the voter, not by corporations.
