Is It Too Late to Stop Being Complicit in Trump’s Corruption and Killing?

If the highest duty of patriotism is to oppose corruption in government, then some fear we may have already failed by electing Donald Trump. Others say our loyalty for country has taken a backseat to his corrupt practices which knows no limit. But allowing him to buy and sell his office to foreign entities and amass more power is only one danger. The other is his erratic and despotic nature. Indeed, power doesn’t necessarily corrupt people; erratic and despotic people, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupts power. It’s not only a power that can make others suffer and threatens the very peace and security of a nation, but a power that can kill.

An Inevitable Illness
The truth of the matter is that corruption is an illness in America, one that infects both politicians as well as the best-intentioned voter. It’s a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at good governance and the moral fiber of a nation, and destroys trust. Trump’s abuse of power with foreign leaders to go after opponents and amass more wealth is just one example. Others have been allowed to govern despite money laundering, insider trading, sexual offenses, extortion and embezzlement, racketeering, misuse of campaign funds, workplace and domestic violence, tax fraud and evasion, tampering with witness testimonies, and obstruction of justice.

America’s political system fosters this kind of behavior. The average Senator must raise $14,000 a day, every day for 6 years to run for re-election. For a President or nominee, the amount is tenfold. Meanwhile, 90 percent of U.S. Congressional districts are gerrymandered, preventing any competition. Over 40 percent of U.S. voters are registered independents, but only two members of Congress are not affiliated with the two major parties. As this corruption fosters polarization, gridlock, and a lack of choices, leaders overlook the disadvantaged in favor of special interests. Big donors stifle educational, social, infrastructural, and environmental reforms.

Hidden Costs and the Measure of Failure
Corruption also corrodes the machinery of government. It leads to tribal politics and undermines citizens’ confidence in their leaders and each other and systems of rule. It’s hard to trust politicians when you realize the reason you still lack dependable electricity and clean drinking water is that they’ve lined their pockets with your tax contributions. The same goes for politicians like Trump. Instead of funding infrastructure or passing gun limits and lowering healthcare costs, he’s using tax dollars to settle vendettas and amass fortunes. Corruption means that roads don’t get fixed, bridges fall, more people get gunned down, and people remain sick and die.

Another thing about corruption is it’s the measure of a nation’s failure, in the end the crime of the community’. To be sure, is it fair to support a war on America’s behalf even when it’s been proven to have been started on false pretenses and with innocent civilians being killed? Is it wrong for some people to live in affluence and have infinite opportunities while others elsewhere live in abject poverty with little or no opportunities? Should a person’s status, race or money be a factor in criminal trials? It’s clear America needs a Prevention of Corruption Act which defines corruption broadly, sets new legal presumptions, and is granted independence to investigate.

Definition of Corruption and Cult-Withdrawal
Surprisingly, perhaps former Vice President Joe Biden said it best. (This, despite Biden’s own outrageous gaffes and a history of corrupt practices as a Senator, such as making women feel uncomfortable and being on the wrong side of history when it comes to voting for segregation and for misguided wars.) In response to Trump’s allegations against him after revelations Trump had pushed the Ukrainian president to investigate him and his son, Hunter, Biden declared, “All this talk from the president about corruption comes from the most corrupt president we’ve had in modern history.” He then added: “He (Trump) is the definition of corruption.”

If Trump is the definition of corruption, then so are we for allowing him to be president. Impeachment is only one option. The other is resistance and recognizing our own complicity with his corruption and killing-taking valuable time, funds, and resources away from life-saving policies like healthcare, education, infrastructure, and social programs to destroy opponents and amass more wealth and power. For some this will mean going through cult-withdrawal (and corruption-withdrawal) syndrome. For others it’s getting more involved at the local and state and national levels of government, or staging a direct-action campaign followed by tax resistance.

Thomas Jefferson’s Warning
Corruption-the kind that we often think of as a large-scale variety and a poor-country pathology, the product of desperation, unscrupulous rulers, rudimentary education, and a lack of shared values-is a part of America. It’s forcing many of our communities to suffer and undergo all its forms of wreckage. It’s also forcing us to pay $10 billion in bribes each year and using up about 5 percent out of our global GDP. As Thomas Jefferson said, “The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us.” Hopefully, it’s not too late to stop being complicit in either, in Trump’s corruption and killing and march towards tyranny.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.