The Corruption of American Freedom

This is going to be an unusual Outside the Box. I’ve been part of the political process, both as a practitioner and an observer, for some 40 years. I cast my first vote in the presidential election for George McGovern but by the 1980s had made a hard right turn. Over the last decade I’ve been far less involved but no less interested.

I’ve been struck during the past month by the continued popularity of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. A recent Michigan Republican primary poll had 55% of the top candidates as clear nonpolitical, non-insider choices. And that doesn’t even include those who would have chosen Rand Paul and other such clearly non-establishment figures. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders, an unrepentant socialist, is close to leading in certain states. As somebody who has viewed the process for so long, I find these choices to be both disturbing (for a variety of reasons) and a provocation to my intuitive curiosity. As the Crosby, Stills & Nash tune of my youth intoned, “There’s something happening here; what it is ain’t exactly clear.”

I had a conversation with my friend Newt Gingrich last week. I know many of my readers will not be fans of Newt, but I think any reasonable person would agree that he is one of the more astute observers of the political scene. In his opinion, there is a bubbling evolutionary change that has spread through a significant portion of the electorate. He relates that to a recent Gallup poll:

The fact that 75% of the American people believe that corruption is widespread in our government may be the most important single indicator in the US presidential race. The rise of so many outsider candidates is a signal the American people are tired of words and want decisive change.

Perhaps this is a continuation of 2008, when so many voted for what they thought was “change you can believe in.” Perhaps it is just early in the process, and people are frustrated, but I’ve been talking to a number of longtime political observers, and they too are echoing the thought that there is something decidedly different going on. Perhaps I’m running in the wrong crowd, but I find the current direction surprising. This is something new.

Today’s Outside the Box is a short piece by Newt from the Washington Times. It is on the traditional concept of corruption in politics. By that I mean what our founding fathers and their intellectual equals in Britain understood the word corruption to mean.

I try to steer away from political memes in my writings, as I know my readers are truly all over the board; but I think this is a piece that can speak to us all and help to inform us as we try to make sense of an unsettling political season. When more Americans see widespread corruption in the US than Brazilians do in Brazil, where there are massive demonstrations against corruption in government, there is something profoundly wrong. We may not see massive demonstrations here … except at the polls. This is something we all need to factor into our calculations as we think about the future.

I write this from an extraordinarily pleasant venue on Boston Harbor at the home of my friend Steve Cucchiaro. We’ll all go out to dinner later somewhere on the bay and then hit the sack so we can both get up early and spend a day working before we take off for the weekend down to Newport to go sailing in Steve’s new catamaran. While I cannot personally imagine what it would take to get me to ever buy a boat, as they essentially seem to be a hole in the water that you pour money and time into, I find it altogether pleasant and enjoyable to have friends willing to make such an investment who will invite me to partake in their enjoyment.

Sunday we fly back to Dallas for the start of a very busy writing and research month. This has been a very relaxing week, and I do find it helpful to kick back a little every now and then. I know I’m going to be sore on Tuesday after I get back into my training routine, but that’s the price you pay for goofing off. Have a great week as we come to the end of summer. For my non-US friends, those of us here in the States get an extra week of summer because the “official” end of the season does not come until the day after Labor Day, which this year is on September 7. Even though most of us will be working, there does seem to be a little bit of summer lingering on our minds.