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It is no longer a secret that the West was won, and railroads 16 flung across the continent, not just by the elimination of Indians but by the corruption of Congressmen. In earlier times, Daniel Webster was on the take from Nicholas Biddle and his second Bank of the U.S. Webster once wrote to Biddle to complain that "my retainer has not been renewed, or refreshed as usual." Biddie also distributed favors to three Vice Presidents, eminent Cabinet members and several of the country's leading editors.
To prove that They All Used To Do It may unsettle those who believe in the natural goodness and perfectibility of man, but does no violence to that other enduring strain in religious be lief that accepts man's essential depravity and starts from there.
The constitutional forefathers, who lived before public relations counselors were invented, thought in such clear-sighted fashion. Their theory of checks and balances rested on the premise that "ambition must be made to counter ambition" because, as one of The Federalist papers puts it: "It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
The pragmatic wisdom of the American system is that when ever standards of behavior are set too high, the law itself — as happened with Prohibition — is deemed at fault: enforcement be comes silly or scandalous; the law is hypocritically evaded, then widely disobeyed and finally repealed. Are standards of corruption also unrealistic? Should the shenanigans involving money and politics be acknowledged to be as American as frozen reconstituted orange juice? Such is the logic in They All Do It. The conclusion need not, however, be nearly as lugubrious as that.
Washington, D.C., is a place where expensive lawyers and lobbyists of powerful interests hover around, befriend, intimidate and influence legislators and bureaucrats whose standard of living is generally lower than theirs. Lobbyists no longer waste long, smoke-filled evenings laboring to be consistent and heavy losers in card games with politicians. The better-tailored law yers and lobbyists around Washington are those who can in fluence Government decisions by access, by persuasion, argument or help, so that no one cries corruption. Congressmen need money and votes to get reelected; campaign contributions can create an obligation without being illegal. Offering or withholding the support of large interest groups in American society can be a powerful influence on a legislator's behavior.