CommentsMY TURN--America is plagued by two similar phenomena, corruption and Corruptionism, and it is important for voters to distinguish between the two.
Corruption refers to when an individual does not play by the established rules. The isolated councilmember who pockets a bribe to approve a building project or the financier who sets up a Ponzi Scheme to rip off the elderly are examples of corruption.
Corruptionism exists when a system violates society’s norms. An example is the Los Angeles City Council which operates by a vote trading system, which Penal Code § 86 criminalized, and all councilmembers have no choice but to participate. Another example of Corruptionism was the US after the 1999 Repeal of Glass-Steagall and the 2000 legitimization of Credit Default Swaps. The most recent example of Corruptionism is the Texas power grid which was separated from the other national grids and de-regulated. Just as Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) predicted that the repeal of Glass-Steagall would result in a massive economic disaster, last week’s freezing of the Texas power grid was the inevitable result of Corruptionism under the name de-regulation.
How One Recognizes Corruptionism
Societies have certain values and it expects its leaders to govern according to those values. America’s basic values derive from centuries of experience with unsatisfactory governments. Under the theory of Divine Right of Kings, the will of the monarch was supreme. As English history shows, however, some had different values. The British Magna Carta in 1215 was an attempt to impose limitations on the king’s rule and was successful only to the extent that enough people with power ascribed to its underlying values. This line of reasoning culminated in John Locke and the Declaration of Independence. Government’s purpose is to guarantee individual inalienable rights, and it derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.”
The US Constitution was drafted to turn the Declaration’s principles into a workable government in order to secure the blessings of liberty and to promote the general welfare. Thus, we have a standard by which to judge whether a local, state or federal government constitutes Corruptionism or merely has some corrupt individuals.
The most recent example of Corruptionism is Texas’ energy system which was designed to benefit a tiny cadre of super wealthy to the detriment of the common welfare. Another example is California’s judicial system which allows judges to disregard facts and law to do whatever they wish as long as the judge does not step on the toes of a more powerful judge. Currently, California courts are similar to pre–Magna Carta England. Probate-Conservatorship courts do not have a few dishonest judges or only a handful of thieving conservators. Rather these courts form a system which preys upon seniors to rob them of their property. A third example, which is protected by the California judiciary, is the City of Los Angeles whose City Council is a criminal enterprise operating contrary to Penal Code § 86. February 7, 2016, Zwartz Talk, The Corruption Eradicator, The 3/15/45 City Council, by Scott Zwartz
One sign of Corruptionism is when the media covers up for the results of corruption. Five years after the Zwartz Talk article, KNBC still shills for the corrupt city by pretending that the miles of garbage dumps along the freeways is CalTrans’ fault February 22. 2021 LA's Biggest Garbage Dump Is Now Its Famous Freeways by Joel Grover and Josh Davis
We know the genesis of the freeway trash problem – Garcetti’s Manhattanization and the criminal city council which approves every development project unanimously thereby destroying tens of thousands of rent controlled units. The result is a homeless crisis which grows worse each year since more poor people are wrongfully evicted by corrupt judges. Judge Richard Fruin ruled in December 2016, that the City Council may engage its criminal vote trading system because it is above the law; its actions are non-justiciable. It is hard to think of a more blatant admission that the LA has Corruptionism that a judicial ruling that the government’s actions are above the law.
Do not ever expect Channel 4 or any other major LA news media to admit that the corrupt voting trading system fuels all the city’s woes. LA media has taken a page for Pre WW II Germany which painted Jews as undesirables, criminals, drug addicts, insane, etc. According to LA media, destruction of poor people’s homes plays no role in their being homeless. It’s because the homeless are criminals, drug addict, and insane. Now KNBC blames Cal Trans because it does not clean up Garcetti’s mess fast enough. For KNBC, the solution to corruptionism is to conceal its results.
KNBC notes that businesses also dump trash, but it fails to mention that Garcetti’s Mafiazation of non-residential trash hauling is why many businesses dump trash rather than pay the mafia-esque fees. August 10, 2017, City Watch, Is ‘Mafiazation’ of Trash Hauling Coming to LA? by Richard Lee Abrams
If LA had only a couple corrupt councilmembers, then the FBI lawsuit against former Councilmembers Mitch Englander and Jose Huizar would not be a fraud upon the public. Nothing Englander or Huizar did would have occurred unless the developers knew for a fact that councilmembers can deliver. January 28, 2019, CityWatch, Is the FBI-Huizar Probe a Sham to Protect Eric Garcetti? by Richard Lee Abrams
The essence of Quit Pro Quo is that the briber developer gets something of value in return from the bribee councilmembers. Since two councilmembers do not make a city council majority, they can guarantee nothing. With LA’s vote trading system, however, Huizar’s placing a project on the city council agenda guaranteed unanimously approval. (The FBI should look into why LA County Superior Court judges have offshore bank accounts.)
The Feds would likely opine that it is not feasible to hold all councilmembers liable for their criminal votes. (This is similar to why the LAPD and not the criminal court judges were held accountable for the Ramparts Scandal. The ramifications of the truth are more than society can handle.) If the Feds admit PC § 86's pivotal role in Englander-Huizar corruption, it would have to indict all Councilmembers for each and every project within the statute of limitations.
When society’s major institutions go along with the corruption and the courts attack whistle blowers, Corruptionism has supplanted the government.
(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles attorney and a CityWatch contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Abrams’ views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.)
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