On Tuesday, a poll by Harris X for The Hill showed that a majority of American voters consider establishment corruption the top issue going into the 2020 election. And, keep in mind, it isn't just about Trump and his family and his Mafia-like regime. Fully half of Republican voters said a corrupt political establishment is a big problem, along with 57% of independent voters and 67% of Democrats. Progressive Democrat Kara Eastman is in a statistically tied race to defeat Trump enabler Donald J. Bacon in Omaha. This afternoon she noted that "When we look at all the political problems in the country, it usually comes down to one thing: money. Money has a corrupting influence on our politics and our politicians. Politicians receive money from certain interests then pass legislation on behalf of those interests. It’s really not too complicated."Voters view a corrupt political establishment as a bigger problem than both healthcare and gun violence. 58% of registered voters in the May 18-19 survey said a corrupt political establishment is a big problem in the United States, while an addition 27 percent viewed the issue as a moderate problem. I decided to ask some of the congressional candidates who have been campaigning on their opponents' corruption to weigh in. Hector Oseguera, who is running against entrenched Democratic incumbent Albio Sires and the notoriously corrupt New Jersey Democratic machine, told us that "Bipartisan consensus is hard to come by, but on the issue of corruption, right, left, and center all agree. Large majorities of the American people regularly cite corruption as a core concern regarding our federal officials. Few people trust politicians to act in the best interests of the people, and that's a crisis of democracy. This campaign is challenging one of the most entrenched political establishments in the country; and while some doubt the ability of a scrappy Millennial to oust such a powerful machine, supporters have been consistently drawn to my anti-corruption platform. This platform tackles the corrupting influence of money on our elections, takes a sledgehammer to the infrastructure of offshore shell companies that crooks use to hide their illicit funds, and introduces pro-democracy reforms to get people engaged in our democracy once more. Matthew Hale, professor of political science at Seton Hall University, said that if there’s one issue I could run a successful campaign on in New Jersey, it's the issue of corruption."Cathy Kunkel is up against an equally corrupted West Virginia machine-- this one Republican. "West Virginia Can't Wait (a coalition of more than 90 candidates spearheaded by Stephen Smith for governor)," she told us, "surveyed more than 10,000 voters last summer and fall and found that-- by far-- West Virginia voters also view political corruption as the biggest problem in the state. Just today, ProPublica published an expose of West Virginia governor Jim Justice, a billionaire coal CEO with a long history of failing to pay his workers and fines. Justice, who was elected as a Democrat and then switched to Republican, retains interests and involvement in his businesses as governor. And in West Virginia's 2nd Congressional district, Representative Alex Mooney-- who sits on the House Financial Services Committee-- receives his top campaign contributions from the financial services industry and then votes to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other bills that serve Wall Street instead of West Virginia. West Virginia Can't Wait candidates-- all of whom have pledged not to take corporate money in our campaigns-- are campaigning against corruption and working to turn out voters who have been turned off by the corruption in both parties."In Texas, progressive candidate Julie Oliver is up against the same kind of sewer politics and corruption has been an important part of her campaign. "The toxicity, gridlock, and hyperpartisanship that we see in Congress," she said, "is a function of the money that has utterly corroded that institution. Ending corruption and getting big money out of our politics is one of my top priorities-- and it is why I have refused all PAC money, so that Texas will never have to worry about my arm being twisted behind closed doors."I'm running against one of the most corrupt and ineffective career politicians in Washington, who happens to be a Republican. But the corrupting influence of big money in Congress affects Democrats and Republicans."If we can get big money out of Congress, if we can end gerrymandering, and if we can stop the undue influence of outsize spending on our elections, we will have an institution in Congress that is worthy of the people it's supposed to serve."
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