Jake Nations

Jake Nations

English 3, Period 3

Molly Fenn

10/14/2015

 

The Best Way to Remove Corruption: Transcendentalism

 

   Humans are the greatest social beings in existence. They have been very interactive and outgoing for thousands of years. They are so social that an entire system has been built to accommodate their own society and needs… Government. The intended use of Government is to protect the rights of its citizens and protect them with a national army. Government has become complex, and that politicians and officials had grown a self-conscious mind, rather than serving the people. In Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, a document where he discusses his ideologies about the U.S Democratic Republic and the legislative branch, “Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government?” (Thoreau 287). “Unjust laws exist;” (Thoreau 273). Corruption exists, especially in the heart of democracy. They linger and influence laws and policies to benefit the few, rather than the many. However with the ideals of Transcendentalism, we can possibly add Henry Thoreau and Ralph Emerson to the list of Founding Fathers for fixing one of the most dire problems in politics.

    Corruption is the doppelganger of Greed, a strong social behavior in human sociology that makes humans.. human. We have a balance of good/bad behaviors, and some can be determined neutral. “Every person needs a degree of wealth to survive” (Taflinger, “Taking ADvantage”) Every human should have the trait of greed. This trait allows them to accumulate enough wealth to survive. Whether you are a middle-class citizen in the 20th century, or a neanderthal in the B.C times. Society sees greed as a bad trait, but it is a part of human nature to survive. Why is greed seen as a negative trait? When does greed become bad? Greed becomes excessive when a human thinks “the more, the better”, and start finding ways to satisfy their endless void of hunger for material items and wealth. They start taking advantage of other humans and their peers and the word “Greed” comes into play. One way to acquire this greed is to be in politics, and to be influenced by your own individual needs rather than helping the greater good. In our government there are many forms of corruption, that is because of the foothold the U.S government has in the world, in production and in influence. A organization that oversees the portion of the world's economy. A tool that can be manipulated to have worldly effects is deemed for corruption. Why do politicians/officials take the money? It is because of excessive greed. They know they have a portion of national power, and they can make profit out of it. Even the presidential candidates get funded millions of dollars for their campaigns by big corporations. Media corporations such as “Fox News” is one of the biggest propaganda news offices in American Society.. is funded by big corporations and the elite. Tax evasions and judicial bribery are performed by the rich and the elite. Government is just a tool that the elite can use to buy corrupt investments and cheat society itself, all so that they can make profit. A theoretical bridge is placed that connects the elite to government. All we need is a set of laws called “Transcendentalism Laws” to build a wall between government officials and the elite.

   There is a tribe in Africa called the Kung tribe, they have been nomadic for centuries, and have only the wealth they are able to carry daily. This tribe is an example of Transcendentalism ideology, and that they don’t have excessive greed as some individuals. In our U.S Government, there needs to be a few changes to remove the possibility of corruption. The United States of America has so many backgrounds of people from all over the world. A mix of cultures and races. Although most of the politicians are caucasian, this can bring some inequality into the government branches. If we had more variety of people and backgrounds, it would be a more empathetic government. Another fix is the enrollment of government positions, they all need to have some degree of Transcendentalism, when they want to work in a government position. In order to combat corruption, government needs a “code of ethical conduct” (Pepys 15). Which relates to Civil Disobedience, “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the last degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?” (Thoreau 266-267). Every choice that an official makes to government, whether it be a law/policy or going to war. To state choices of approving of a new library or development housing. To prosecute or defend a person in court without sufficient evidence. These choices should all be decided on one variable “How many people will benefit”. A strict code of ethical mind-set should be maintained. The last priority they should think about is wealth. “In order to shield the [official] from external influence and to reduce the opportunity and need to succumb to political pressure and favoritism, the term of office should be lengthy, if not life-time, to increase job security and stability.” (Pepys 13). Transcendentalism has a mind-set to really release excessive greed and to worry about the common good. If a person has 100% job stability, they won’t need to focus on their set income. Only their passion for serving the people.  

If officials  gave up their desire for material items and had a mindset to help the American people, rather than have only individual interest. The entire personality of government would change, people would be more accepting of politicians. Unjust laws would not be made, and the great U.S Democracy could become an efficient system or an improvement in government that Thoreau would give his mark of approval. Can you imagine a U.S government with almost little to no corruption? There would be a decrease in our national debt, overall economic equality would stabilize the country’s wealth. More jobs would be created, scandals would rarely happen, the idea of Thoreau's civil disobedience would inspire the nation to take matters into their own hand about whether the majority approves of the current government. To distinctively take part in voting for their congressmen and presidents, and to proactively take part in politics?

  This sounds almost as if it was a dream, to remove corruption from our government. We all know that exist, but to what extent? A team of researchers at princeton university looked at 20 years of data and wanted to know: “Is corruption in America legal?”. They found out that no matter what policy or law the american people hate or approve, it will always have a 30% rate of being passed. While the 10% of americans who are considered the “Elite” can make any policy or law have a 0% passing rate to 60%, based on what they desperately want in their lives. This is just a sample of corruption in our government.

So, I will finish a quote from Civil Disobedience, “; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” (Thoreau 273). One of the greatest freedom policy’s that is in the Constitution that we never used since the Revolutionary War, is the freedom to change our government as the majority of the citizens would want it to be.        

 

Works Cited:

Thoreau, Henry David. Civil Disobedience. Boston: David R. Godine, 1969. Print.

 

Taflinger, Richard F. "Taking ADvantage: The Sociological Basis of Greed." Social Basis of Human Behavior: Greed. Washington State University, 28 May 1996. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

 

Kingpetcharat, Pam. "Corruption: Where to Begin?" Global Ethics Network. N.p., 9 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

 

Stadtler, L., P. Klarner, Th Straub, and A. Schmitt. "More than Bricks in the Wall: Organizational Perspectives for Sustainable Success." Google Books. Gabler, 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.

 

Gilens, Martin, and Benjamin I. Page. "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens." Perspect. Polit. Perspectives on Politics 12.03 (2014): 564-81. Print.

 

Pepys, Mary Noel. "Criminal Justice Procedure." (2013): 1-21. Corruption and the Justice Sector. Management Systems International, Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.