To: Father Terrence who wrote (64763 ) 5/7/2006 8:50:29 PM From: one_less Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 173976 "The rest are mostly varying degrees of weasels. :) You could wipe out much of the need for so much legislation to try to catch the connivers, if you would be willing to raise the standards of honorable representation accross the board. In principle, a representative is under social contract to serve the interests of their constituencies even when it may conflict with material interests of their own. Those being represented have in essence lent their trust to the representative and it is this trust that forms the basis of the social contract. Consequently an anti-corruption law should focus on any breach of this trust relationship as a violation of the social contract. Generally corruption flourishes when conditions are favorable for government or corporate representatives to serve their own interests rather than perform their duty to serve the interests of their constituencies. So any form of private or group advantage that is brought to bare as an influence on conduct of a representative threatens as a potential breach. It becomes a breach, when it influences the representative to do anything other that represent the best interests of the representative's constituencies, as do personally gratifying interests that conflict with the best interests of the constituency. We seem to have developed a high tolerance for influence peddling and patronage in this country. These are very corrupt practices which seem rampant to the extent of acceptance as habitual practice. We have less tolerance for things like bribery, fraud, extortion, and embezzlement but there have been examples of these also. concisely stated: Corruption occurs when a representative allows an influence to adversely effect or conflict with them representing the interests of their constituency. Currently we have this two sided coin where the supporters of one side try to help their representatives get away with all kinds of things that violate the best interests of the citizenry, while simultaineously trying to keep the other side of that coin from getting away with anything ... and visa versa. This explains why tolerance and acceptance of corruption has become status quo. It is more of a contest of who can get away with what, than who will provide the most honorable leadership. This is why wailing about the side that is currently in power, or wailing about the negative over reactions to what the powerful are doing generally results in eye profuse eye rolling, voter apathy, and flipping channels to American Idol where a mock challenge to find the best is occuring.