Anyone running for State or Federal office in 2026 who doesn’t make addressing corruption in American politics and with politicians a major part of their platform is either clueless or a direct beneficiary of the corruption. If I were running, this would probably be the second topic on my stump speech, right after the economy (affordability). While maybe not easily accomplished, I would put forward the following proposals, because what percentage of voters would really be opposed to these things? And I would dare any opponent to disagree with them. They’re very specific, but would be easy to understand for any voter:
Term Limits:
House - 4 terms; 8 years
Senate - 2 terms; 12 years
President - 2 terms; 8 years (current)
Supreme Court - 12 years
Stock Trading:
No buying or selling of any stocks/mutual funds, etc. while in office. None. Applies to the Supreme Court, too.
Gifts:
No gifts in excess of $100 to any office holder from any one individual or corporation. This includes meals.
No gifts/donations to a Presidential Library until after the incumbent is out of office.
Elections:
Redistricting allowed once every 10 years - no more.
Redistricting may not take political party affiliation, race or any other voter personal attribute into consideration, and must be done by an independent body. State elected officials may not be involved in redistricting.
Corporations may not donate to or help finance any campaign - period.
Only American citizens can donate to campaigns, and there needs to be a reasonable limit ($1000.00?). Bottom line - the wealthy cannot have any more influence on an election than the average American voter. This is complicated by the existence of software money/PACS, and something needs to be done with this, too.
This is a fascinating polling exercise, but it raises more questions than it answers. I wonder if Searchlight could manage to tease out the answers to a different but related question, namely: what traits would make the broad populace *really admire* a politician? We're getting an interesting glimpse of what people mean by corruption. What would make people come to the opposite conclusion, and discern VIRTUE?
There is no doubt that the Trump regime is corrupt and the evidence increases regularly. Biden, on the other hand is viewed as being corrupt based on a perceived connection to his son, Hunter, who was obviously profiting from his name and has issues, to put it mildly. However, unlike Trump, there is no publicly information that Joe Biden himself is corrupt. But perception of corruption—or by extension any ethical or moral impropriety—should be something any politician seeks to avoid. That is where Joe Biden failed (in this regard). And the Republicans, who have consistently used association (however tenuous) to paint false equivalence, took full advantage. That is why your poll indicates the public sees little difference between the two. This is a lesson that Democrats have never learned. The Republicans know their candidates are often compromised and their voters don't place the same importance on the issues as Democrats. So by magnifying any perception of unethical behavior in Democrats, Republicans draw false equivalence, and effectively neutralize the issue (both sides are corrupt). Unless the Democrats put up candidates that are squeaky clean, the same thing happens over and over.
Anyone running for State or Federal office in 2026 who doesn’t make addressing corruption in American politics and with politicians a major part of their platform is either clueless or a direct beneficiary of the corruption. If I were running, this would probably be the second topic on my stump speech, right after the economy (affordability). While maybe not easily accomplished, I would put forward the following proposals, because what percentage of voters would really be opposed to these things? And I would dare any opponent to disagree with them. They’re very specific, but would be easy to understand for any voter:
Term Limits:
House - 4 terms; 8 years
Senate - 2 terms; 12 years
President - 2 terms; 8 years (current)
Supreme Court - 12 years
Stock Trading:
No buying or selling of any stocks/mutual funds, etc. while in office. None. Applies to the Supreme Court, too.
Gifts:
No gifts in excess of $100 to any office holder from any one individual or corporation. This includes meals.
No gifts/donations to a Presidential Library until after the incumbent is out of office.
Elections:
Redistricting allowed once every 10 years - no more.
Redistricting may not take political party affiliation, race or any other voter personal attribute into consideration, and must be done by an independent body. State elected officials may not be involved in redistricting.
Corporations may not donate to or help finance any campaign - period.
Only American citizens can donate to campaigns, and there needs to be a reasonable limit ($1000.00?). Bottom line - the wealthy cannot have any more influence on an election than the average American voter. This is complicated by the existence of software money/PACS, and something needs to be done with this, too.
And this administration and SCOTUS just keeps making it worse - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/09/supreme-court-campaign-finance-trump-gop-vance/87675796007/?utm_source=perplexity
This is a fascinating polling exercise, but it raises more questions than it answers. I wonder if Searchlight could manage to tease out the answers to a different but related question, namely: what traits would make the broad populace *really admire* a politician? We're getting an interesting glimpse of what people mean by corruption. What would make people come to the opposite conclusion, and discern VIRTUE?
There is no doubt that the Trump regime is corrupt and the evidence increases regularly. Biden, on the other hand is viewed as being corrupt based on a perceived connection to his son, Hunter, who was obviously profiting from his name and has issues, to put it mildly. However, unlike Trump, there is no publicly information that Joe Biden himself is corrupt. But perception of corruption—or by extension any ethical or moral impropriety—should be something any politician seeks to avoid. That is where Joe Biden failed (in this regard). And the Republicans, who have consistently used association (however tenuous) to paint false equivalence, took full advantage. That is why your poll indicates the public sees little difference between the two. This is a lesson that Democrats have never learned. The Republicans know their candidates are often compromised and their voters don't place the same importance on the issues as Democrats. So by magnifying any perception of unethical behavior in Democrats, Republicans draw false equivalence, and effectively neutralize the issue (both sides are corrupt). Unless the Democrats put up candidates that are squeaky clean, the same thing happens over and over.