Corruption in America
Subtitle: from Benjamin Franklin's snuff box to Citizens United
By: Zephyr Teachout
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 376
ISBN-13: 9780674050402
Subjects: Politics and government; Political culture; Political corruption; Judicial corruption; Moral and ethical aspects; History
Description: In 1785, Louis XVI presented Benjamin Franklin with a snuff box encrusted with diamonds and inset with the King's portrait. Americans believed it threatened to "corrupt" Franklin by altering his attitude toward the French in subtle psychological ways. In 2010, one of the most consequential Court decisions in American political history gave wealthy corporations the right to spend unlimited money to influence elections. With unlimited spending transforming American politics for the worse, warns Teachout, if the American experiment in self-government is to have a future, then we must revive the traditional meaning of corruption and embrace an old ideal.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (page3 313-358) and index.
Table of contents: title: Four snuff boxes and a horse; title: Intellectual influences on the framing conceptions; title: Removing temptations; title: An architecture of obstacles; title: Corrupt kings, corrupt judges, and the critics; title: Yazooism; title: Is bribery without a remedy?; title: The railroads, corruption, and judicial review; title: Corrupt lobbying; title: Treats, spoils, and the ballot with the flaming pink border; title: Teddy Roosevelt's vision and the courts; title: The jury decides; title: Operation Gemstone; title: Corrupt campaign contributions; title: Citizens United; title: The new snuff boxes; title: Abstraction, innocence, dissonance, complacency, and contempt; title: The revival of the American corruption principle; title: Possibilities for current reform; title: Conclusion; title: Appendix 1: Anti-corruption constitutional provisions; title: Appendix 2: Major twentieth-century anti-corruption law.