CORRUPTION has become as American as apple pie. A growing trend by big business and politicians to engage in corrupt activities continues to pour water on the American way of doing things. It also begs the question: Can the American people trust their government when politicians are being caught with their hands in the cookie jar? A survey by the Gallup Organisation in 2011 revealed that 60 percent of Americans believe corruption is widespread among businesses. Fifty-four (54) percent of Americans survey rated members of Congress ‘very low’ on honesty and ethical standards. In 2012, the then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez, a Democrat, was probed for accepting two free trips to a Dominican Republic resort on the private plane of a Florida doctor who was under investigation for Medicare fraud. Former Illinois Governor, George Ryan served more than five years in a federal prison for corruption. Another former Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, has more than 12 years to go on his conviction for demanding cash in exchange for an appointment to President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. In 2009 former representative, William J Jefferson, was convicted of using his office to try and enrich himself and his relatives through a web of bribes and payoffs involving business ventures in Africa. Last year, former mayors of Detroit and New Orleans, among others, were convicted of, or charged with felonies. In January this year, former Virginia Governor, Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of accepting more than US$140 000 in loans and gifts in exchange for promoting the business of a political patron who was seeking favours. McDonnell was once mentioned as a possible running mate for Mitt Romney in 2012 and as an aspirant for his party’s 2016 presidential nomination. Mega bank, JP Morgan Chase has been accused in a federal court in Manhattan of having duped investors by selling them troubled hoe loans bundled into complex securities that later went bust. Nevada senator, John Ensign was forced to resign his seat following a scandal where he arranged for the payment of hush money in his marital affair. Former House Majority leader, Tom DeLay was convicted in 2010 for laundering money in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Politicians have let the people of this country down. Failure by the Government to ever prosecute a single top executive from any major bank in the massive financial scandals that triggered an economic meltdown and saw many people lose their savings, homes and investments in the worse recession of modern times points to widespread corruption in Government. Whistleblower law firm, Labaton Sucharow, has noted that 25 percent of Wall Street see wrongdoing as a key to success. A survey of 500 senior executives carried out by a law firm in the US and UK found that most of the executives had first-hand knowledge of unethical and illegal acts in the workplace. In a recent survey by the University of Chicago, only 11 percent of those asked expressed significant confidence in the institution of the Presidency of the United States. About 23 percent of those survey expressed positive confidence in the Supreme Court, no one expressed confidence in the United States Congress. Only seven percent of Democrats and five percent of Republicans expressed any great deal of confidence in the legislative branch. Politics in America has become an arena of corruption; power lusting, hypocrisy and confusion. Scandals of a financial or personal nature affecting those in political office constantly fill newspapers and television news programmes. Interestingly, one of these global watchdogs, Transparency International, continues to give America a fairly clean rating, despite rising evidence on rampant financial and political corruption in this country. In the book, Selling US Out, JR Martin writes that instead of building honest national consensus on important issues confronting the American people, the Democrats and Republicans practise dishonest divisive politics that are aimed at dividing public opinion. Unfortunately despite the obvious evidence of corruption running rampant in Washington, the American people actually seem to be tolerating these illegal acts by their representatives. As America’s 20th President, James Garfield said, “The people are responsible for the character of their Congress. “If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. “If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.”