Why are most politicians linked to corruption?

Your question made me to scan the email i received before the election few weeks ago. The email tackles on senator miriam defensor santiago's thoughts why many seeks to be in the senate. Here is what she says...the enormous budget that each senator receives monthly is the 'big' factor. The salary of P35,000 or roughly $800 a month is only superficial as compared to the Fixed Monthly Budget of P2 M or estimated $5,000 each senator receives. Each of the senator's office has a budget of P500,000 for Maintenance and Operating Expenses (Rental, Utilities, Supplies at Domestic Travels) and another P500,000 for the Staff and Personal expenses. This gives us the idea why senators only hire few people to man their office. Do you still wonder why there are ghost employees around? Aside from this, they still have P760,000 monthly allowance for Foreign Travel which does not require them to have their receipts liquidated. A mere certification is well-accepted instead. In addition, all of the senators are Chairmen of the different committees. Each Committee Chairman receives P1 M. They do not run out of committees since they are only 24 of them for 37 committees. There’s food for everybody ‘ she says. This implies that they receive double benefits once they accept chairmanship in different committees. With the P200 M Budget for their annual Pork Barrel, they automatically get their 10% share as per S.O.P. or about P20 M. This is what the contractor gives to senators who gave them Infrastructure and Livelihood Project. So just before their term ends, they already has accumulated P100 M from the Pork Barrel. Other senators claim for more share from contractors, around 20-30%. Take note of the change in the lifestyles of most senators since they started seating in the senate. Many of them now live in exclusive subdivisions and have built luxurious houses here and abroad. They even own more than 5 cars. Are we still amazed by this time why these people running for senate have to spend hundreds of millions of pesos in their campaign for one position which salary is only P35,000 a month? What do you think? Can we still eliminate this kind of SOP's in government? Are we really winning the war against corruption? While some senators have committed to donate their pork barrels for services we could still somehow monitor to where's really the money is spent through. Let us not waste time and money for nothing. It's time to move forward and get involved in the system of 'checks and balances' to protect our rights.

In a hectic pace to amass wealth , politicians become corrupt to the core . They sort out all possible vile tricks in an effort to gain maximum sums of money in the least time. Politics being the last resort of a scoundrel , Can you expect anything better from them ?

To get rid of corruption in politics is indeed a kind of utopic dream. It will never be possible, as long as humans remain humans, with all their flaws. If you are in politics, you have access to ridiculous amounts of money and power. Unless your will is very, very strong (like some of our more respected politicians), you will succumb to the temptation. In fact, I dare say this is the reason why many politicians try to get a seat at the office: to have access to this power, and to use it for themselves. It's sad, but that's reality.

I think it's related to human nature itself. People tend to become greedy when they have something that other people don't. They oftentimes refuse to share it with other people because it puts them on a pedestal. When a person becomes a politician, he is given something that a lot of people don't have: power. I guess you noticed by now that power corrupts people when they're filled with greed. It's not because they are politicians, it's because they aren't satisfied with themselves that they become corrupt.