by Nick Tomboulides
Try as they might, politicians just can’t seem to fool the American people. We’re onto them, and the latest Gallup survey proves it.
According to Gallup, 75 percent of Americans believe corruption is widespread throughout our government. It’s a nine-point jump since 2009, when “only” 66 percent of respondents believed our officials were corrupt.
So why is distrust of lawmakers at an all-time high? It’s simple: our elected leaders have overpromised and underdelivered. Each election cycle, candidates spend millions of dollars on campaign ads to put forward what seems like a reasonable set of policy ideas.
But once they’re secure in that job, that visionary from the campaign trail disappears. Members stay loyal only to their parties and special interests, which both favor staying in power over doing what’s right. Their great hubris and opportunity inevitably leads to corruption.
Take former congressman Michael Grimm, who was caught evading taxes on his personal business while serving on the Finance Committee. Or Congressman Bill Shuster, who served as Chair of the Transportation Committee while engaging in a “personal relationship” with the nation’s top airline lobbyist.
The misconduct of Congress is exposed all the time, and yet, 95 percent of its members are still re-elected every two years. It’s our responsibility to fix this broken system, and that cannot happen without term limits.
Nick Tomboulides is Executive Director of U.S. Term Limits
