The astonishing corruption of American democracy

It has a sharp right-wing political complexion too

President Trump and Scott Pruitt.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

American politicians love to boast about how ours is the greatest country on Earth. But when it comes to clean government, the sad reality is that not only is the United States behind Denmark or New Zealand, it's so far behind that our real peer nations are more like Brazil or Romania. Name a government agency and it's even odds someone high up recently was caught doing something shifty or resigned over improper behavior (Wednesday's contestant was the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs).

However, it's important to realize that American corruption is just as much about ideology as it is about money and dishonesty. American politics is extremely crooked, but it is also severely tilted to the right in part because the national government is being suffocated under a tsunami of cash.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.