What is the best solution to quell corruption in any government?

Answer 1

Oh, boy...where do I begin? The government is supposed to be of the people, for the people and by the people, but somewhere along the line we allowed government to become so huge that no one with less than a Ph.D. in politics can keep it all straight.

There are literally hundreds of small and big things wrong with the run-away train called the American government. But, in the interest to keep my blood pressure from going over the top, I'll mention just one catagory, which is bribes and special interest. One of the requirements to hold public office in this country should be that the candidates must give up key positions on any kind of board of directors. Any politician caught accepting bribes from lobbyists (and calling it personal contributions) should be kicked out on his or her a** without the slightest hesitation.

I also think that one single sentence out of President J.F. Kennedy's famous inaugural address in Janurary of 1961 became a major turning point in the development of our culture. His famous words, "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" were appropriately patriotic at the time. However, I suspect that those words became a tool for which later administrations could manipulate the American public like puppets on a string. It seems as if from that time on Americans patriotically sacrificed whatever the current administration said had to be sacrificed, so that we would not risk asking "what our country can do for us". Jeezz...it's like the entire government is a Jewish mother dishing out guilt trips! Consequently, we Americans accept any kind of personal interest double-talk the government dishes out - all in the name of patriotism...or worse, the never-ending mantra of fighting for our freedom.

Oh, and one more thing. There should be an independant watchdog organization for every section of the government. It drives me crazy that Americans don't bat an eye at paying well over $100 for tickets to a major league baseball game, but God forbid they should pay $2.00 more per month to pay for a watchdog group or the big, bad "S" words - social services. Grrrr!

Answer 2

Eliminating corruption requires three ingredients.

1. Transparency - If corruption can be hidden, it can exist. We need access to every bit of information that can influence the decision makers. This includes personal financial information.

2. Empowered citizenry - If the majority of the power lies with the government, citizens can't do anything about corruption. A strong middle class and a weak government enables citizens to do something.

3. Educated and motivated corruption fighters - We need the Ralph Nader's of the world. Most people don't care enough to do the research and make an issue about corruption. We need people who are passionate about fighting corruption and will tell everyone about any corruption they find.

Answer 3

There is no way. All governments are run by humans, and all humans are fallible. There has not been one type of government, from the small PTA to the giant NATO, that has not suffered some sort of corruption. Even the Holy catholic church and Evangelical Christians have had their share of corruption, and they both run off a system that condemns it. So, in short, if a government is run by a human, sooner or later there will be corruption.

Answer 4

The number one best solution to corruption is to GET INVOLVED. Vote, write your representatives, start a grassroots movement, get others to vote and pay attention to the issues, run for office yourself, lead a protest (legally of course). There are a million ways to get involved in government and most people are only willing to do the bare minimum (vote in a presidential election), if that much, and will then complain about the government.

GET INVOLVED!

Answer 5

Encourage your friends/family to turn off the television.

Oh, and vote for Ron Paul. He may be able to help a little.

He is for smaller government. Smaller government has less opportunity to be corrupt. Huge, all-powerful government, just gets corrupt all over the place.

Answer 6

Become more aware of what's going on.
Get your sources from the interenet where you can fish, instead of TV where it's fed to you.
Become active and write your Senators & Congresspeople when you have a concern.
Let them know you not only vote, but you blog and are politcally active.
Become locally involved.
Support the organizations you agree with who are trying to make change. If you can't donate money, link to thier site or write a supportive article and post it in appropriate places.

Answer 7

the citizen must be involved. Whenever they get to see anomalies or curroption going on, they must immediatly report it to authorities. Also, transparency among all government projects and expenses should be made. it must be published in regular basis with proper audit made by the auditing body of the government. In which case, overpricing will be very apparent to public view.

Answer 8

My thoughts are as follows.

1. Strict term limits for any ELECTED OFFICIAL in the Federal Government.

2. Limit Contributions to those who would vote for them, i.e., congress can only take contributions from those they represent.

3. Cap those contributions at a very low level

4 Did I mention term limits?

Answer 9

Reduce the power and income of the government

Bring the center of political power closer to the local population

Encourage real party competition (not two parties ruling uncontested for 100 years)

Answer 10

Here are my ideas for cleaning up our own federal government:

Get rid of ALL career politicians. This would mean ousting all the politicians currently in office, putting in term limits for all elected offices, and electing a new batch of politicians who would be more responsive to the people who elected them, NOT concerned with holding on to their seats of office.

Make political office a non-profit job. Politicians DO have expenses that need to be met while in office, so do the following:
1. No pay. Make the politician submit itemized lists of expenditures for reimbursement. He/she could list cost of housing, food, utilities, clothing, all the costs of living from day to day in the capitol. These costs could be accompanied by actual receipts or an estimated average, approved and verified by the Government Accounting Office.
2. Allowances for office expenditures, including telephone, supplies, and staff. All to be verified by receipts.
3. NO lobbyists allowed within 20 miles of any state or national capitol. NO special interest groups allowed within the same distance. NO gifts, paid vacations, or any other perks donated by lobbyists or special interest groups.
4. NO LAWYERS allowed to serve in ANY legislative or judicial branch of government.
5. Since ALL politicians would be term-limited, they are NOT entitled to any federal retirement for time spent in office. Allow for a "severance payment" equalling the authorized expenditures submitted over the length of their term of office, not to exceed an amount equal to the amount of money each politician would have earned in the private sector in their previous job before being elected.

ALL legislation must be in accordance with the Constitution, giving section, paragraph and clause that authorizes the Congress to enact such legislation. Each bill must be accompanied by an estimated cost of the execution of the provisions of the legislation and show where the funding is to be found for it's execution.

ALL federal programs must be reviewed every five years to determine their effectiveness and whether or not the program is fulfilling the purpose intended when enacted. All programs not fulfilling the intent of the legislation would be cut from the federal budget.

Then, we might be able to get a government of statesmen willing to serve the electorate as a public service instead of a lifelong career to be milked for all it can provide.