I was recently asked to address the Democratic Policy Conference of the Senate. I can’t help but think I failed in that task. The topic for our session was corruption, though for some reason I thought my brief was to describe our ongoing litigation to end super PACs. After I made my presentation, a panel of senators made theirs. Their presentations were much more interesting and urgent, as they framed more effectively what is the most urgent challenge in American politics today: corruption.
As penance (and therapy), I want to sketch what I wish I would have said, not imagining senators have the time for a Medium post. Instead, because I feel the issue is too simply understood. I’ve been focused for the last almost 20 years on this question of corruption. The critical point to see is how many layers to the problem there are. And how those layers have multiplied over those 20 years.
Those with deeper historical knowledge could point to parallels across history. I’m not interested in the history here. I’m interested in the present: in the urgent need to translate this understanding into action. In this post, I focus on that understanding, with a hint of the actions that should follow.
Layer 1: The Kleptocracy
Never before in the history of this nation has it been fair to describe the…
