F. H. Buckley - The Republic of Virtue: How We Tried to Ban Corruption, Failed, and What We Can Do About It

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PRAISE FOR

The Republic of Virtue

Political corruption, in the form of crony capitalism, is a silent killer of our economy. Drawing on the genius of our Founding Fathers, Frank Buckleys new book shows how we can rein it in and help restore the Republic.

William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education, best-selling author

Buckley diagnoses the corruption that ails American government, and offers up a coherent, lucid alternative program for restoring virtue and making American government once again a government of, by, and for the people.

Bradley A. Smith, Capital University Law School, author of Unfree Speech

This is Buckley at his colorful, muckraking bestan intelligent, powerful, but depressing argument laced with humor.

Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution

PRAISE FOR

The Way Back: Restoring the Promise of America

Frank Buckley marshals tremendous data and insight in a compelling study.

Francis Fukuyama

Another excellent book! It is full of marvelously shrewd observation, as well as scholarship, both aimed at subjects of the greatest importance.

Jonathan Clark

Best book of the year.

Michael Anton

PRAISE FOR

The Once and Future King: The Rise of Crown Government in America

His prose explodes with energy.

James Ceasar

2017 by F.H. Buckley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.

First American edition published in 2017 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.

Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.481992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Buckley, F. H. (Francis H.), 1948 author.

Title: The republic of virtue: how we tried to ban corruption, failed, and what we can do about it / by F.H. Buckley.

Description: New York: Encounter Books, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017006460 (print) | LCCN 2017035611 (ebook) | ISBN 9781594039713 (Ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Misconduct in officeUnited States. | Political corruptionLaw and legislationUnited States. | BriberyLaw and legislationUnited States.

Classification: LCC KF9409 (ebook) | LCC KF9409 .B83 2017 (print) | DDC 345.73/0232--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017006460

For Esther, Sarah,

Nick & Benjamin Herbert

Contents

Maximilien Robespierre: Terror is an emanation of virtue. Page 31. (Wikimedia Commons)

Gouverneur Morris: If the Legislature elect, it will be the work of intrigue, of cabal, and of faction: it will be like the election of a pope by a conclave of cardinals. Page 50. (Wikimedia Commons)

Jacques-Louis David, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons. 1789. Page 57. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Life of Dr. Franklin was a Scene of continual discipation. W.O. Geller, Franklins Reception at the Court of France, 1778. 1853. Page 63. (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-01591)

Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price and Sheriff Lawrence Rainey of Philadelphia, Mississippi, with their supporters at their arraignment in federal court, January 1965. Page 107. ( Bettmann/Bettmann Collection/Getty Images)

All plans of government, which suppose great reformation in the manners of mankind, are plainly imaginary.

David Hume

F OR FOREIGN INVESTORS, America is always a good bet, and thats especially true when they come from corrupt countries, as Kambir Abdul Rahman and Yassir Habib did. Together the two formed Abdul Enterprises and deposited a million dollars in Chase Manhattan Bank to give themselves credibility. Then they hired Melvin Weinberg to approach American politicians for their support. If this is beginning to sound familiar, thats because its the Abscam sting of 197880, and the basis for the 2013 film American Hustle.

Kambir Abdul Rahman and Yassir Habib didnt exist. The entire operation was an FBI plan to entrap corrupt politicians, and before it was over it led to the conviction of six U.S. congressmen as well as Senator Harrison Williams (D-NJ). Melvin Weinberg was all too real, an elementary school dropout and neer-do-well who once took $10,000 from a doctor on a promise to kill his wife and then simply kept the money without doing the job. He subsequently moved on to bigger stings, making $500,000 a year and never paying income tax. In time the feds caught up with him, and after being convicted of wire fraud he agreed to work for the FBI to entrap corrupt politicians. Beginning with low-level New Jersey pols, he quickly moved up to Washington officials as word spread that he had money to hand out. The first congressman he caught in his web was Michael Myers (D-NJ), who was persuaded to introduce a private bill that would have permitted Rahman and Habib to remain in the United States. Im no Boy Scout, he told Weinberg. Truer words were never spoken, but Myers might have been less candid had he known that he was being taped and the FBI was listening in.

It made for a good movie, but it was only garden-variety corruption, where public officials take money under the table in exchange for an official act and are sentenced to jail. In such cases, the FBI and the local police seem entirely up to the job of ferreting out the grifter, the pol on the take. What they miss are the nudges and winks that fall short of an official act, the way in which campaign donors and lobbyists support candidates and thereafter enjoy a privileged relationship with them. The donors and lobbyists will expect to have their calls returned and their opinions respected, and thats not a crime. Ingratiation and access... are not corruption, ruled Justice Kennedy in Citizens United v. FEC. That sounds like a heavy dose of realism.

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