Malfeasance Quotes
In the early 20th century, the corruption in America was much worse than it is today. At the time, it was very common for members of Congress and State Legilators to take bribes from corporations whose interests they protected. Franchises, subsidies and other forms of corporate welfare was much more common. The reforms of the 20th centuries eliminated much of the corruption. At the same time, Americans, including Ms. De Cleyre knew much less about the details of foreign country’s foibles and weaknesses. So she underestimated the degree of corruption of foreign nations and made her judgment from the extensive corruption that then existed in the United States.
The Slavery issue was so contentious that many Northern Congressmen had just given up on the abolitionist cause or never agreed with it even though in many areas of the country the majority of their constituents supported abolition.
This article of impeachment is quoted often because it shows that criminal activity or violation of a law was not required for impeachment. The time was close to the adoption of the Constitution and presumably reflected sentiment of the founders. Chase however was acquitted as the Senate did not agree that the charges had been proven.
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.
She assisted the Family of the Afghanistan President, Hamid Karzai in the early 2000s, hoping to establish a non-profit public service organization. Once it was operating she realized that the origination had a murkey accounting system and the "first family" was extracting money from the organization.
In the economic meltdown of 2008 and the aftermath, there were so many criminal violations of law in the financial industry that even the Democratic administration of Barack Obama chose not to jail the violators but to levy some large token fines albeit ones which were very affordable for the institutions who had to pay them—in many cases paying them with money made as a result of profits on no-interest money they received in bailouts after the 2008 Meltdown.
TR won the Nobel Peace prize for mediating between Czarist Russia and the Japanese both of which believed he thought well of them.
The original proposal made treason and bribery the only grounds for Presidential impeachment. Mason and others argued to broaden the grounds and finally they agreed on “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
There had not been an audit in over 200 years, and many of the records are missing.
