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Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
11,078 posts, read 15,084,813 times
Reputation: 3937
Quote:
Originally Posted by wutitiz
It would be interesting to see some studies on this. I can't find any that compare along either party line or ideological lines, but there have been attempts to measure corruption by state:
Rankings by state appears to me to be a mixed bag with little rhyme or reason. Midwest and plains states (other than IL) tend to rank low in corruption. The high ranking states are all over the map, R.I., OK, and LA are all pretty high and would seem to have little in common otherwise. Also corruption metrics are obviously a complicated question.
In my county we have not one but two former sheriff's deputy doing time for murder, both collecting police disability pensions from taxpayers. It's all aboveboard, legal, and in accordance with their duly signed union contract. But to me it's a corrupt deal--I call it 'institutional corruption.' And it would be very difficult to measure.
Yes,Illinois is very corrupt..D and R alike..we have had one Sheriff get life x2,a chief deputy from a different county convicted of statutory rape,Govs on both sides doing time,every city clerk in the area doing time or headed to jail,one Sheriff's dept just busted 4 of their own stealing bail money(some of what was missing was MY money from bailing a relative out)..D and Rs alike...no honor at all.
I always get a kick out of that. It is amazing how blind some conservatives are to the corruption in the Republican party. At least liberals are aware there are sometimes corrupt people in the Democrat party.
The difference is, Republicans don't defend and try and justify their actions. They get the axe and thrown under the bus immediately, by their own party. Accountability.
There are many different ways to measure taxation and to rank states. So the numbers are actually closer to being 'perception' than 'fact.' Here is a list of states by 'tax freedom day.' This is basically the pct. of the work year that the average resident must devote to paying his/her tax bill. NY ranks #2, IL #4, and CA #6. Before you accuse someone of not basing an argument on "actual facts," make sure you understand the definition of "actual facts."
the link you posted shows days that need to be worked to achieve tax freedom. All but 5 states are in April. The difference between 50 and 25 is 2 weeks, your link does not even talk about its methodology. Do some dates have holidays that would obviously extend their times by a number of days or things like that.
in short, what you posted is a list that is arbitrary without context.
So yes, i understood the definition of actual facts, its you who seemed not to.
Quote:
Further, even if these three states were ranked 48, 49, and 50, it would not invalidate my argument.
No, it wouldnt have because your argument was already long invalidated.
Quote:
A politico on the left side of the aisle, who favors high taxation/high spending has an inherently greater opportunity to divert resources where they should not go. Not only are they dealing w/ more money, more lobbyists, and more players, as gov't gets bigger, it gets more complicated, and a dirty deal becomes that much easier to hide.
Opportunity = ability, not ideals.
You can want to swim across the ocean, it doesnt mean you actually have the ability to do it.
And further more, you are wrong on Democratic ideals, but that is a subject for another thread.
However the argument that republicans dont have the opportunity to do it is completely wrong as they clearly are( the links in the OP)
Quote:
With a bare bones gov't, not only is there less money to work with, but it is harder to bury a deal within layers of bureaucracy, simply because there are less layers of bureaucracy.
If you believe that, then why are you a Republican or at the very least, why do you support them. You had When Republicans controlled the US government from 2002 to 2006, You grew government and created an entirely new bureaucracy with DHS.
You can call yourselves small government until the cows come home, but actions speak louder than words.
Status:
"everybody getting reported now.."
(set 25 days ago)
Location: Pine Grove,AL
29,567 posts, read 16,552,753 times
Reputation: 6044
Quote:
Originally Posted by tinman01
Be honest the Dems act the same way when it is a Republican. Hardliners only care about their party staying in power and are always willing to make excuses for when their party chokes. Look no further than the excuses made for Obama and his obvious lies. Look no further than the excuses made for GWB.
Neither Barack Obama or GWB have been indicted for corruption charges.
The Hubbard indictment doesn't surprise me, rumors here have swirled for months about Hubbard being indicted for corruption. Corruption is equal opportunity for everyone, both Republicans in charge in AL now, and the Democrats (previously in charge) have had rife corruption. Unfortunately, despite all the complaints, in about two weeks everyone people complain about being corrupt, or bought by lobbyists will be reelected into office.
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