I was an ethics advisor in the Air Force for years. What I see around me now in politics defies description. It is legalized corruption on a scale beyond belief.
South Dakotans don’t have to look to Washington to understand what happens when public money, private interests and weak oversight collide. We lived through a variety of scandals from the Mike Rounds administration including EB-5 and the GEAR UP program. Such histories demonstrate that transparency and accountability are not partisan concerns but rather common sense safeguards against concentrated power. Indeed, voters approved the anti-corruption Initiated Measure 22 only for the Legislature to declare an emergency and overturn it. Of course, the same problems extend far beyond South Dakota.
The United States Supreme Court, in its Citizens United (2010) and related decisions, has put our government up for auction. Greedy politicians are gleefully selling it off for their own benefit. It is disgusting!
