One of the negative issues related to government ethics is an abuse of power, and corruption as its most common maniestation. The more power the government has, the more significant its abuse could be (Manias and Monroe). In this paper, the article related to the problem of corruption in the US, its current reasons, and the challenges will be analyzed.
Government and Corruption – “Corruption: Challenges of Anti-Corruption in the The US” – 2020
The author of the article states that currently, the level of government corruption in the US increased. During Trump’s administration, the reasons for it are assumed to be found in “political polarization, partisan loyalty and hostility, and negative partisanship” (Zhang 299). As per the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index, US citizens, including the public and experts, assess the present situation as the worst since 1995 (Zhang). The author provides an example of Trump’s abuse of power for personal interest during the 2020 election. He pushed the Ukrainian president to investigate the business activities of his political rival Joe Biden’s son. As argued in the article, such cases became possible due to partisan diversification and loyalty that led to social pluralism in its negative sense. Along with it, Congress’s role in checking and providing balance has been undermined in the last several years. Thus, according to Zhang, political polarization and negative partisanship are supposed to be the reason for increased corruption.
The author seems to be correct, providing the example of the 2020 election. In that situation, considering multiple views and interests of the parties and their loyalty, the Republicans chose not to react to Trump’s misconduct. The tendency to corruption increase, demonstrated by this case, seems to be dangerous, especially in light of the current pandemic of 2nownCoV. If power abuse might happen, it would also affect the government’s actions related to the pandemic. The case of power abuse that occurred in China at the beginning of the spread of coronavirus must be taken as an example. At that time, the seriousness of the situation was concealed, causing the death of many people. In light of it, the importance of anti-corruption policy becomes crucial.
References
Manias, Nicolas, and Dave Monroe. Moral Compass. Nicolas manias and Dave Monroe, 2018, Web.
Zhang, Yahong. “Corruption: Challenges of Anti-Corruption in the US.” Public Integrity, vol. 22, no. 3, 2020, pp. 299–303.