The Republic of Virtue

Overview

The Republic of Virtue: How We Tried to Ban Corruption, Failed, and What We Can Do About It is a book by Frank H. Buckley, discussed by Buckley with host Bob Zadek on the Bob Zadek Show. Zadek introduced Buckley as a guest who had written “fabulous books” and noted that this was Buckley’s third appearance on the show F.H. Buckley on The Republic of Virtue (2017). Buckley described the title as “somewhat ironic,” arguing that “the optimal level of corruption is not zero” and that a totally corruption-free government would resemble Robespierre cutting off people’s heads.

Virtue in the founding era

Zadek raised the keyword “virtue,” noting that in the founding era the word carried a different and more important meaning than it does today. Buckley explained that in the 18th century “virtue” meant “republican virtue,” defined as opposition to the kind of public corruption seen in other countries, notably England. The framers, he said, loved the idea of British liberty but did not want a king and did not want British-style corruption, in which the king bought off votes in the House of Commons with bribes, positions and money. Buckley said the Americans who visited England were shocked, and that what the founders wanted was “a sense of disinterested virtue, public-minded virtue” — public officials who prefer the public good to their private ends. In Philadelphia in 1787, virtue meant preferring the good of all Americans to local goods or to one’s own state. Buckley concluded that the framers wanted a Constitution that would be “a corruption-free covenant,” and that “we didn’t get it.”

Corruption and the centralization of power

Zadek framed the founders’ fear of accumulated power and Madison’s belief that factions in a large republic would neutralize each other. Buckley argued that a better sense of federalism is needed, citing Louisiana and Illinois as corrupt states where citizens pay for corruption through inefficient government, wasteful government and a decline in wealth, and where the remedy is to move — for example, from Louisiana across the border to Texas. But when power is centralized in Washington, he said, “you can’t escape federal corruption.” Buckley described looking across the Potomac at what he called the greatest concentration of influence and patronage ever seen in the world, centered on K Street with the lobbyists and Congress, and identified the accumulation of power in Washington and the decline of federalism as unhealthy in terms of corruption.

Lobbying: education versus influence

Zadek asked what about lobbying rises to the level of corruption, noting that lobbyists educate the legislature about arcane businesses. Buckley agreed that lobbyists perform a positive good: most represent industry groups, but some represent public interest groups such as the Sierra Club, the NAACP and the National Rifle Association, and they exercise their First Amendment right to petition the government for the redress of grievances. Congressmen, he said, come to town not well-educated and deeply ignorant about what is going on, and need to be told about riders in thousand-page bills. Buckley said lobbying oversteps the line when lobbyists purchase influence by giving gifts, citing the golf trips Jack Abramoff organized for congressional friends about ten years earlier, which were pricey junkets and are now outlawed. He added that lobbyists can still contribute to political campaigns and organize receptions and meet-and-greets, and that this could properly be curtailed, relegating lobbyists to information provision rather than “the special sweetheart gifts business.”

Campaign finance and bundlers

In closing remarks, Zadek asked whether an elected official voting the “wrong” way based on personal bias or life experience is another form of corruption. Buckley said he did not have a problem with that, because everyone has such motivations and the remedy for bad ones is to vote the guy out. He distinguished corruption in the campaign itself: money given by a lobbyist, and bundlers who end up as ambassadors despite having nothing going for them apart from raising money. Buckley called this “kind of an embarrassment to America” and said “we’re essentially selling off our embassies to big donors, and they’re frequently idiots.” He said there is something special about money because it does not correlate with goodness the way private biases might.

Across episodes

Buckley’s The Republic of Virtue is discussed in the 2017 episode, and the topic of corruption and reform recurs in later appearances: in a 2020 episode Buckley called California’s suit against Washington over school lunch standards “California imperialism,” and in a 2022 episode Zadek listed The Republic of Virtue among Buckley’s earlier books while focusing on Progressive Conservatism. The episodes show no development of the corruption thesis between the earlier and later treatment; the later episodes mention the book only in passing.