Turquoise wrote:
Kmar wrote:
Turquoise wrote:
Local politicians are easier to buy off. It's not a matter of less corruption or more, it's a matter of scale. You can pull off bigger scams on the federal level because of the money and power involved. However, this is less a measure of character and more a measure of capacity.
Manipulating a local government is easier than manipulating the federal government as a whole.
Disagree. The impacts of corruption are direct and easily deciphered locally. The bigger the government gets the longer the trail is. Why should floridians vote on funding public schools in montana? It make zero sense. .. and don't even get me started on about how easy it is to buyoff washington politicians... for it is they who have to fund massive political campaigns.
You're assuming that locals would fight the corruption. Some cases of corruption have a net benefit for the local population.
For example, the mob had a lot of support (and still somewhat does) up north because organized crime was easier to deal with than a bunch of smaller gangs continually fighting in turf wars. People were willing to pay protection money if it meant things went smoother on a day to day basis.
We see similar things throughout the world. A lot of Afghani tribes are willing to negotiate with the Taliban if it means less conflict and death.
In America, things are obviously less extreme, but the principle is the same. Local governments are no less corrupt than the feds, they just operate differently. Local politicians are the sort of people you have a much better chance of making a personal connection with, so people are more forgiving of certain character flaws if they know someone on a first name basis or if they know that this person is willing to make the right tax breaks that might bring a company into their area to provide them a decent job. If the politician gets a kickback in the process, who are they to complain?
I don't assume. I think its more likely. The logical conclusion is that if the pain of corruption is felt immediatly then it has less of a chance of developing. If you fart in a room with 300 people in it, chances of getting called out are unlikely.
I beg to differ on the degrees of corruption locally vs federally. Federally it is done on a global scale. If your local mayor is secretly running black ops in pakistan you've got some serious problems. Actually meeting your politician is not such a bad thing. ..nor is living around the constituents you serve.
If you think that washington is going to save you from the mob you're dreaming. Some of those politicians fit the very definition if organized crime.