Edmund Burke Quotes
It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a rival to the pursuits of many.
Burke, Edmund. Speech of Edmund Burke, Esq., on the Nabob of Arcot's Debts. J. Dodsley, 1785, p. 86.
Corruption was rife in the Congo before the French or Belgians ever arrived there. However, it is the case that French business and diplomatic culture is much more tolerant of third world corruption than most other industrial democracies and actively engage in bribery efforts to a degree that other nations do not.
The House Majority Leader Tom Delay, with a history of ethics violations, got caught in some very serious ones and convinced the House majority leadership to change the rules of the Ethics Committee to prevent the minority from initiating any investigations or inquiries. The Ethics Committee was the only House committee that has an equal number of majority and minority members and before this change, either side would initiate an inquiry.
Johnson, after replacing Lincoln, started removing Lincoln appointees, particularly those who were aggressive reconstructionists and replacing them with others who generally were less aggressive in protecting Negro rights. “Going into the field” was the code word of the time for being in combat in the Civil War. He tried to label the civilian Lincoln appointees negatively, justifying their replacement. At the time there was no Civil Service system so even relatively minor officials were replaced. He was impeached by the house and retained his office by a single vote although the majority of the Senate voted to convict him.
Corruption is rampant in Pakistan like many other developing nations where corruption is a cultural tradition that has existed for centuries. All nations have some corruption including the United States. The difference is the degree and the acceptance of corruption as normality.
It took until the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt until monopolies were regulated. Like many of the rapacious businessmen of his era, bribery of public officials was so common that he had no problem admitting this to a reporter who was interviewing him. His father Cornelius, one of the great, creative industrialists of America, was not at all of the same mindset or the same corrupt character and saw corporations and the Railroads as having an important role in America with substantial obligations to the society which enabled the economic development and supported the railroads. He described his son as a “blockhead”. William goes down in American history as the arrogant industrialist and capitalist whose wealth was produced by his talent of being born to the right father who built the great empire. At that time the bribery of members of Congress was direct with cash going directly into their pockets, unlike modern times where it is indirect in the form of Campaign contributions.
Edmund Burke was an Irish statesman, economist, and philosopher. Born in Dublin, Burke served as a member of parliament (MP) between 1766 and 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party after moving to London in 1750.
