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It isn't the toe-tapping in public restroom stalls. It isn't the bundles of cash stashed in the freezer. Salacious sex scandals and the sale of influence are superficial symptoms of corrupt individuals. Individuals can be replaced. The corruption that permeates Congress may have no cure.

The structure of Congress may have been an unintended consequence of political compromise in the heated debate in the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787. In retrospect, many call its creation by the U.S. Constitution nothing short of Providence. The reality is that the structure provided the best possible arena for ideas to be hammered, shaped, and polished into public policies for the people of America.

The delegates to that now-famous Constitutional Convention were as diverse in their views as were the people they represented. They were bound together by two common bonds: the determination to shed the tyranny of a dictatorial government, and the desire to construct a new government on the foundation of equal rights of all people.

This idea was not practiced by all the participants, but the idea prevailed nonetheless. James Wilson (1742-1798) expressed this idea quite succinctly: "All men are by nature equal and free. No one has a right to any authority over another without his consent...."

This idea underlies the purpose for the government the founders created, and is described exceptionally well in the Constitution of Alabama:

"...The sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression." (Section 35)

Congress, and the executive branch of government have completely lost sight of this fundamental purpose, and, consequently, have no idea how to achieve it. Congress is the primary culprit. It is in the Congress where representatives of the people should debate proposals that affect the life, liberty, and property of the people they represent.

Open, honest debate -- with the hope and expectation of producing the best possible policy outcome -- is the best way yet discovered to take an idea and knock off the rough edges, knead and shape, and finally polish a proposal into public policy worthy of the consent of the people.

The corruption of Congress has overwhelmed the idea of honest debate with the hope and expectation of producing the best possible policy outcome. This high ideal has been replaced with procedural maneuvering. Deceptive discourse has replaced honest debate. The only purpose is the hope and expectation of retaining (or gaining) the control of power.

Policy proposals are no longer advanced by the people, but by the interest groups who expect to benefit from the proposals at the expense of the people. Neither inherent merit nor the protection of life, liberty and property, are the bases for Congressional support. The generosity of the PAC of the proposing interest group, or the number of potential votes influenced by the group, are the motivating factors for a corrupt Congress.

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