The ONLY way we'll get better politicians is to send the crooked ones to jail

[Joe Nation]

I think the pardoning of Richard Nixon served only to embolden people like Trump to do whatever they pleased. They realized that any president would receive a pardon for "the good of the country". In reality, it had the opposite effect for our country and swung the door wide open for crooks and grifters to break the law as they pleased.

The wealthy, the powerful, the well connected have always had a different judicial system than the rest of us. The plea deals, the partisan pardons, the slight slaps on the wrist, have created a sense that crime is worth the costs and the risks.

Well, if Trump isn't treated like the criminal he is in a court of law after all is said and done, or if the Supreme Court somehow rescues his sorry ass, I for one am going to be extremely pissed. I just don't see him doing time no matter what comes out of these trials. Somehow, some way, he will skate right back onto his golden toilets until his flabby ass dies of a well deserved heart attack.

[markie]

1. And...

Get money and favor out of politics

[kimbutgar]

2. +1

Money in politics has taken away the will of the people in the US. And has given us paid off charlatans like Newt, tea party fakers, freedumb caucus and a scam artist as a president.

[inthewind21]

5. Has it

Citizens United was decided in 2010. Yet Obama managed to win election again in 2012 in spite of the massive amounts of $$$ flooding in. It's up to the people. Money is not the issue. It's how many people will allow themselves to be bought with all that $$$. All the money in the world can't defeat the will of the people. That is, if they don't let it.

[leftieNanner]

3. Agree - And this goes all the way back to the Civil War

The Confederate generals were never punished for what they did.

"For the good of the country" the south never paid a real price. And we still have that Confederate flag flying in too many places.

[Midnight Writer]

4. I agree. The same applies to corporations that include breaking laws in their business plan.

Fines for breaking laws and violating regulations is seen by too many corporations as a routine business expense.

[erronis]

6. The politicians are just the thugs carrying out the bosses desires.

Send the bosses to jail to see some real results.

[moondust]

7. "Will Biden pardon Trump?"

I heard that brief discussion last night on one of the cable news channels. Someone suggested that old Joe Biden the institutionalist is the kind of guy who favors healing and moving on.

For anyone who thinks that might be a reasonable way forward, there is a rather chilling historical parallel to consider.

For his role in the failed coup known as the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, in 1923 Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison. He was later pardoned by a court after serving only nine months. He portrayed himself as a martyr for it. (Sound familiar?) That pardon was a very, very, very bad idea.

[Hortensis]

8. We get good politicians by electing good, competent people.

THAT's our job.

We the People are doing somewhat better lately. Just reminded me that for some while we're not seeing people claiming, here anyway, that they intend to "take a stand" by writing in their cat or voting for someone unelectable.

"That way there be dragons."

[Emile]

9. Totally agree!