Does Democracy Automatically Mean Corruption

Does a Democracy Automatically Mean Corruption? In a world with many different systems of government, the Founding Fathers of our country chose a representative democracy, after a failed confederacy, to be the government system for the United States of America. They wanted to avoid the drawbacks of the other government systems, so they choose a system of government that would have people in charge of the public, instead of the public being in charge. This was meant to prevent corruption. However, the United States government is one of the most corrupted in the world today. In his book Democracy, Henry Adams questions democracy and how corruption and misuse of power can ruin even the best politicians and government officals. But does having

Carrington symbolizes an idealist, someone who tries to not get corrupted and does his duty to his country. Ratcliffe is corruption, someone who does everything he or she can to get whatever he or she wants. Ratcliffe shows his corruption early on and influences the President to let him make important decisions, including getting the Assistant Secretary of State to offer Carrington a position in Mexico to get him away from Madeleine. Madeline is a new politician, trying to understand her role in the government system. She is also being fought over by the right side of politics (Carrington) and the corrupt side of politics (Ratcliffe). She must choose between the two, and at the end, while first leaning towards corruption, she chooses neither. However, the very last sentence of the book says, “The bitterest part of all this horrid story is nine out of ten of our countrymen would say I had made a mistake” (209). Adams does not say what the mistake was, but readers are lead to believe that the mistake was not marrying Carrington. By having Madeleine not choose a side but also wish that she had chosen the better man, Adams is essentially saying of the politicians who choose corruption, in the end most wish that they would chosen to be on the other

When asked about Washington as a president, Ratcliffe contends that it is necessary, while in office, to use vice instead of virtue to be a good president. He also implies that Washington was not a good president because he was always honest. “Public men cannot be dressing themselves today in Washington’s old clothes… If virtue won’t answer our purpose, we must use vice” (79). Most people today consider Washington one of our nation’s greatest presidents, a part of that being that he was always honest. Ratcliffe is saying that Washington was not a good president because he didn’t lie and cheat his way to the top. Washington was not corrupt in any way and therefore no one should try to be like him. His ways are out of style because of the way things are done nowadays. Ratcliffe also plays into people’s personalities. Madeleine notices that he is a very powerful man because he can influence people so easily. “He was simple, straightforward, earnest. His words moved her… he was playing upon her sensitive nature precisely how he played upon the president’s coarse one” (98). By playing with people’s emotions to get what he wants, Ratcliffe is a corrupt politician, which Adams believes is like most politicians today. The US government cannot help but be corrupt because we keep putting corrupted members like Ratcliffe into