The Naivete of the Religious Right

When religious conservatives demand laws against abortion they are putting their faith in government. The nature of the federal government and of the Presidency has changed in the last several decades and one wonders why religious conservatives have not see the change.                                           

I listened to an interview with the author of On Corruption; What is at Stake. She looked back in the history of the U.S. and found corruption large up to the years of World War I, the depression and World War II. Prior to that series of events corruption was largely in the open and attention drawn to it was scoffed at by those on the take. It was "Sure I'm doing it. Try to stop me."

The trauma of the depression followed by war time patriotism took away, largely, the notion politicians could take bribes and steal with impunity. Profiting from the Presidency was absent during the years of Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and others into the 1980's. The link author makes the case the savings and loan crisis was evidence things had changed. 

Ratcheting down banking regulations ratcheted up opportunities for wrong doing. While this was not so much tied directly to bribe and direct profiting by public official it was permission given by government to take money from people without being held accountable. By allowing home mortgages to be packaged into securities much like stocks and bonds the transparency of where they came from went dark. A form of corruption was present.

Today there is a steady diet of those in Congress buying or selling stocks based on unannounced events or legislation. The practice of "blind trusts" seems to have evaporated. The current President requires federal employees and countries that curry favor with the U.S. government to buy rooms at his hotels.

If corruption is not turned back we can expect it to continue, maybe even get worse. Does the religious right think the government it is trying to capture will more more honest than the one that exists? Does it think it can get its way without paying to play? 

The religious right would serve its own purpose by joining those it opposes in cleaning up the corruption that is present.