- by Alan Adaschik

In the traditional sense, we think of corruption in government as taking a bribe for providing a service or favor that wouldn’t be provided under normal circumstances. However, governmental corruption involves a lot more than this. Governments, among other things, should look out for the best interests of the people they serve. When they do not, they are corrupt and money changing hands has nothing to do with this.

The government of the United States of America is corrupt in so many ways that it can rightfully be described as being a criminal enterprise. A good of example of this is the 14 inch thick 388 billion spending bill recently passed by Congress. It was virtually impossible for anyone in Congress to read this bill prior to voting on it and in fact, most Congressmen read very little of it, but voted for it anyway. What does this say about those in Congress who serve us? They are being paid by us to intelligently vote their conscience on proposed bills. If they vote to spend money on something and have no idea what it is, then they are not doing what they are being paid to do at a tremendous cost to the solvency and financial well-being of this Nation and its people. This, admittedly, is a fine shade of corruption. However, there are other examples that are far more blatant.

President Bush, with the approval of Congress, recently established a prescription drug benefit program for seniors. The basic element of this program is that seniors become members of the plan by obtaining a card that allows them to obtain drugs from specific suppliers at a discount. The problem is that under the so called program, the drug supplier is allowed to charge any price they wish. In other words, the program is of “benefit” only to the drug companies and our seniors will still pay more for drugs than anyone else in the world. The only exception to this state of affairs is those unfortunate Americans who cannot afford health insurance and are not old enough to qualify for the “benefit”. The number of people in this situation is substantial and our government has left them at the mercy of the wolves of world commerce.

Is our current Medicare Prescription Drug plan in the best interest of the American people? Clearly, it is not and even harder to understand is why it is not in consideration of the influence and purchasing power of the United States Government. How is it possible for everyone else in the world to pay less for prescription drugs than the people of America? It is only possible if the United States Government is not doing its job but the situation is far worse than this, has acted to on behalf of the drug manufacturers in an attempt to give them exclusive control over the drug market to the senior citizens of this Nation.

President Bush, in regard to his Medicare Prescription Drug Program which is now ours, instead of looking out for the best interests of those who pay his salary, looked out for the best interests of the drug companies. Therefore, President Bush is corrupt in every sense of the word. Like Congress he accepts a salary from us for not doing his job and worse, accepts his salary when he is actually working for someone else.