Political Corruption: Bell, California

Political corruption has been around seemingly forever.It’s like a weed that never will go away no matter how much you want it gone. Indeed Robert Lekachman noted, “Greed characterizes the workings of government” (360). Bell, California is an example of how political corruption took place. City councilmen and women took misappropriations of public funds, raising taxes and pocketing most of the money. Members of the city council took advantage of citizens, stealing the money they paid in taxes. Robert Rizzo, city manager, was making nearly $800,000 a year, which demonstrates how corrupt people in power can get to be. Bell, California demonstrates how the government imposed unfair taxation and the changes the taxes were going to make, never happened.
Raising taxes supposedly for public causes is something that could be going on all over the world, not just in Bell, California. The government has become so deceptive over the years and its main reason is because the people in government want more power. These people become sinistic and act on behalf of greed and their own benefits. Government corruption limits economic and political development, making it one of the biggest issues all over the world. Even though government's main purpose is to protect the individual rights of its citizens, it is now commonly heard of the corruption taking place among political leaders. Although Bell had a pretty bad reputation regarding its city council, obviously there were changes made in the city council in order to better the city, “In 2012, Bell's new city manager received an award from a national organization for city and county managers for his work to put the city back on an ethical track”(Smoller 1). According to Machiavelli, governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society, demonstrating abuse of power, greed, deception, and
During arrests, during searches, and while they pass laws that aren't just. There have been many incidents of violent behavior towards citizens and even deaths due due police brutality during an arrest. On October 24th, 2004, Frank Jude was viciously beaten after leaving a party. As he proceeded to leave the party, two off duty officers accused him of stealing one of their wallets. Jude was repeatedly punched and kicked all over his head and body. He was also stabbed in both ears with pens and even an on duty officer began stomping on his head, leaving him unconscious and in really bad condition. When police arrived, he was not helped, but on the contrary, he was put in handcuffs and was asked questions at the scene instead of calling an ambulance to tend to his wounds. Later, he was escorted in a police vehicle to a hospital where he refused to speak until the police left. Even though these were off duty officers, they still demonstrated abuse of power because no has the right to beat and threaten another person because they are suspicious of something and they don't even have proof to back up their statements. Even the officer that was on duty, decided to beat up Jude instead of coming to his aid. When police arrived, they also decided to handcuff him instead of calling an ambulance to help him out. Police officers now believe that the authority given to them by the fact that they are police