In our Texas Government course, we have learned that Texas has some some trouble with keeping politicians in line. With the people that Texas residence vote in running amok and the supposed net that is the law trying to keep them from wrong doings failing, I believe that Texas has failed in keeping the government to be for the people and not for business.
This can be seen in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as he has been seen doing some shady business with his recent trips to North Texas. It seems that he has recently used over $78,000 in his trips expenses up to North Texas. Now the problem here is that he is using the money and that it’s the fact that he is using the money for his own personal gain. In his trips, he is seen being picked up my many people that look to be security and this can be described as overprotective for just normal trips. There is also the fact that he has a business in the north and he is using the money to help his business.
I am baffled that there is no policing net that can prevent such things. Paxton has been doing such trips frequently and with taxpayer money, and yet no one has told him anything. Even with his recent criminal charges, this man is running around using taxpayer money for his personal gain and business. I think that such a man has no role in government if he feels the need to use his time in such a matter. There have been comparisons to Governor Abbott’s travel spending and it’s within the same range as Paxton, however Abbott is a governor and that is understandable. Paxton is certainly not the only politician that has had problems with the law and or has worked the system in someway for their own personal gain.
I believe that with the constant wrongdoings that certain politicians have done, there needs to be a way for the people or for some group to police them and truly enforce the law. Maybe this can be seen as the fault of Texans for electing such a person, and maybe there needs to be a way to better educate Texans, but something needs to be done with unlawful politicians that are never punished.
1 comment:
In Carlos Mendoza's post focusing on the abuse and misappropriation of money in our political figures, he blames the politicians for their errant behavior but I garner a different opinion. When Attourney General Ken Paxton uses $78,000 in expenses for trips and Governor Greg Abbott spends about $147,000 dollars of campaign money for travel expenses, I think it merely reinforces my beliefs that it is not the politician's duty to curb their spending, but rather that the responsibility lies within the people to note when corruption is happening. Because let's face it, politics and corruption go hand in hand, yet the only way conniving businessmen find their way into such arenas is only through the people.
Carlos states that "there is no policing net that can prevent such things", yet I respectfully disagree. It is our duty as citizens to note when corruption is happening and to hold those accountable when it violates the promises to which they stand on. But yet I speak more on an ideal while Mr. Mendoza speaks about reality, because truthfully, most people have resigned themselves into thinking that their opinions don't matter. Many think that no one cares about such far away things so it's okay to not care themselves, and that misappropriation of funds is not something to fuss about. Yet for people who care so much about their freedoms, often they can forget that political activism is just another extension of their rights, and that corruption does not need be so rampant. I think Carlos's article is indicative not of our state politician's greed, but of the general apathy people feel toward political injustice.
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