Honest Graft: Analyze the Types of Graft and How They are Defined

A detailed Summary of Honest Graft: Analyze the Types of Graft and How They are Defined

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the monograph "Honest Graft" by George Washington Plunkitt. Specifically it will discuss the types of graft, and how Plunkitt defines them. It will also look at examples of these types of graft. George Washington Plunkitt was a state senator from New York and a consummate politician. He was also a major player in Tammany Hall in New York City, which was a highly influential (and many believe corrupt) Democratic Party political machine that controlled politics in the city for nearly 200 years. Plunkitt was outspoken and critical of those who were critical of him. He was also brutally honest about the riches to be made in politics. He simply saw his own wealth as a result of graft - but the honest variety that was "OK" to profit from and manipulate ("Tammany Hall").

George Washington Plunkitt declares in his essay, "Honest Graft," there are two distinct types of graft, "honest" and "dishonest." Honest graft entails knowing or recognizing opportunities that are laid out in front of you, and taking them, or as Plunkitt colorfully notes, "'I seen my opportunities and I took 'em'" (Riordin 9). In other words, Plunkitt is not taking bribes, engaging in blackmail,

Today, it would be difficult to differentiate between these two forms of opportunism. They both take advantage of the political system and rely on some kind of information or advantage the populace does not enjoy. One simply is (or at least was) legal, while the other is not. That is perhaps the biggest difference between the two. One is legitimate or at least accepted, and the other clearly is not.

Plunkitt also cannot be patriotic, take advantage of the city, and state the way he does. He often brags about buying up lands or materials he knows they will need later. Clearly, he buys them at a deflated price, holds on to them, and then sells them when the city desperately needs them for one project or another. In that, he is not only taking advantage of the system, he is taking advantage of the taxpayers who in the end fund these projects. Any time a politician makes money at the taxpayers' expense, he or she is doing something wrong. Plunkitt brags about his exploits, but what he really indicates is that he is not a servant of the people. He only serves his own needs and wants, and there is no patriotic feeling in that. By engaging in graft, "honest" or not, Plunkitt shows who really is boss, and that is the almighty dollar. He may think that what he is doing is harmless, but it is clear it is not. He is really harming the very people he is supposed to be representing in countless ways. It is easy to see why shady deals like this are now illegal, and why politicians (and others) still engage in them if they think they can get away with it. Truthfully, there does not seem to be much difference between this practice of Plunkitt's and the all too common modern practice of packaging "pork" to fatten up Congressional bills and then pushing them through Congress. In these highly questionable items, states or even politicians benefit from government monies to improve everything from highways that go nowhere to drilling in the Artic wildness. Pork is just another form of honest graft, and so, while the politicians talk the good talk, they are still engaging in the practice, even if it goes by another name. It is not patriotic, it is not right, and it is still graft.

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Approximate Word count = 1481
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History