Top Ten: Most corrupt politicians of 2012

The website Judicial Watch does a pretty good job of reporting corruption in the government in a fairly non-partisan fashion.  They have just released their list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2012.

Here is the list:

• Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
• Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice
• Attorney General Eric Holder
• Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL)
• Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
• President Barack Obama
• Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
• Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)
• Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

Dishonorable Mentions for 2012 include:

• Former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)
• Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY)
• Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
• Gen. David Petraeus
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Most people I talk to hold the view that all politicians are corrupt, in fact I can’t recall anyone ever saying the opposite.  I don’t think this is the case though.  It’s not hard to understand why people believe this, there are literally thousands of politicians on the local, state and federal level and rarely if ever do good politicians make headlines.  We are inundated with reports politicians involved in corruption or immorality and it seems like they have all been named at one point or another.

There is a solution if you think your politicians are unfit for service: elections.  I find it quite puzzling how on one hand Congress has had an approval rate below 50% for years, and yet the electorate send their Congressmen and Senators back to work at rates over 80%, and at 91% this past November despite a measly 21% job approval rate just prior to the 2012 election.

I get the impression that people believe everyone in Congress is doing poorly… except their Representatives.  If our politicians are liars it’s because we tolerate our politicians lying to us.  If our politicians are corrupt, it’s because we tolerate their corruption.  As Americans we are in the position to choose those who govern over us.  I think a more interesting question is that given our ability to “throw the bums out”, why do we repeatedly send the bums back?