Draining the Swamp: an Abridged How-To Guide

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By Benjamin Hitzig

For the last two years, we have time and time again been told about this thing called “The Swamp.” This isn’t a literal swamp, like the ones in Florida, but rather a metaphor for the disgusting climate that produces the politicians and lobbyists that only work for themselves. While this seems like nothing new, the public certainly has been suffering some of the consequences of Washington D.C. Corruption.

Donald Trump has made it a huge part of his platform to “Drain the Swamp,” and lately that same rhetoric has been brought up by the new  (now former) White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Most people agree that the level of corruption on capital hill is at unacceptable levels, but what can be done about it? There has got to be a logical and practical way to legitimately drain the swamp.

Before coming up with an answer, the problem must be identified. What exactly makes up the swamp? Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t even start in Washington D.C., but rather at a local level. The swamp starts with politicians who are elected to local boards, mayors and business owners who buy out the competition.

It expands to county commissioners and city mayors, and it doesn’t discriminate party lines. It goes up from there to more powerful figures. Someone like Ed Mangano represents a fairly powerful man (Nassau County Executive) who is Under some scrutiny for corruption. It goes up from there, and In most of these local cases, people overlook some of the corruption that occurs.

Once it reaches the state level, the swamp becomes noticeably worse, because the more power the swamp creatures get, the dirtier the waters become. Once state powers are given to one person, events like The Bridgegate Scandal tend to happen with more regularity.

Still, it is even worse at the Federal Level, where lobbyists and the deep state take turns lining each others pockets while the rest of the citizens suffer. People in the Senate say one thing and do the other, and at this point it’s expected.

So how exactly did these people get into all these positions of power?

The short answer is that they climbed from the local levels to State and Federal levels. Unfortunately, they brought the swamp with them. This means until we defeat the swamp at a local level, we will never drain the federal swamp. 

Local positions seem small and meaningless, but they are the key to a future that looks a little less swampy. If Libertarians begin to fill up local positions, there is a chance that the swamp will begin to dry.

This all starts by getting involved and changing laws and loopholes at a local level. This means getting rid of corrupt actions such as Gerrymandering, or aligning different areas by demographic so certain political parties will win every time. This means taking time to talk to the community, and to understand what different peoples concerns are. Most importantly, this means getting involved. Whether that means writing for a Newspaper or running for office, what the swamp fears most is the public getting involved.

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