Corruption has crippled American politics since this great country’s first establishment, and corruption hasn’t seemed to slow down any. The Parr family stands out from most political corruptness offenders because of the power they gained and the fact that the Duval County population demographically usually would not be known to support the kind of people the Parr were. But the people of Duval County supported the Parr’s. The Parr’s rise and fall is what this books teaches you. This book talks about patriarchal fiefdom, control that the Parr family had on south Texas, how the Parr family was able to keep their control, and the political cronyism the existed during the Parr era and legacy and a three item formula a successful boss rule in south
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23) The South Texas formula for successful boss rule was (1) Control the election of every local public officials (2) Use local government to provide jobs and handouts for your friends and to punish your enemies (3) help yourself to as much tax money as you wish. When trying to control every election, sometimes require intimidation, violence, bribery, fraud, forgery and worse crimes. Controlling the local government and using it to provide financial benefits for the supporters of these “bosses”, keeps the bosses in power. By staying in power these bosses were able to take as much tax money as they want. Which in hindsight is really hurting these people that are supporting or letting theses bosses do what they want, because they are paying taxes to help out their county and improve their surroundings like infrastructure and schools. My thoughts on this subject is that there are a new breed of political bosses that do pretty much the same thing as their predecessors except they are on a whole new level in the seams of keeping discrete. Instead of using their power and letting everyone know that they have that power, these new bosses hide behind a wall of protection and remaining under the radar by using others to show their power. No matter if my thoughts on this are true or false there will always be corruptness in American politics. This three item formula may still be used today for gain of power but I’m sure there has been a few more steps added to the …show more content…
They had control of the other political officials and law enforcement. They involved themselves in political machines where illegal actions were used to insure that they kept dominance. The Parr’s joined other political bosses to unite their power and protect themselves from the law. They also had an almost unlimited amount of funding from public taxes that they illegally took. Many more reasons to how they kept control of Duval County. Politicians today do old too much power just like the Parr family. Not all politicians are corrupt but a lot of them seem to be selfish and only trying to better themselves. The major of Premont Texas has been arrested twice in the last two weeks for abusing her power and breaking the law, just one of many examples of local small town politicians that try to abuse the system and feel like they can do whatever they
23) The South Texas formula for successful boss rule was (1) Control the election of every local public officials (2) Use local government to provide jobs and handouts for your friends and to punish your enemies (3) help yourself to as much tax money as you wish. When trying to control every election, sometimes require intimidation, violence, bribery, fraud, forgery and worse crimes. Controlling the local government and using it to provide financial benefits for the supporters of these “bosses”, keeps the bosses in power. By staying in power these bosses were able to take as much tax money as they want. Which in hindsight is really hurting these people that are supporting or letting theses bosses do what they want, because they are paying taxes to help out their county and improve their surroundings like infrastructure and schools. My thoughts on this subject is that there are a new breed of political bosses that do pretty much the same thing as their predecessors except they are on a whole new level in the seams of keeping discrete. Instead of using their power and letting everyone know that they have that power, these new bosses hide behind a wall of protection and remaining under the radar by using others to show their power. No matter if my thoughts on this are true or false there will always be corruptness in American politics. This three item formula may still be used today for gain of power but I’m sure there has been a few more steps added to the …show more content…
They had control of the other political officials and law enforcement. They involved themselves in political machines where illegal actions were used to insure that they kept dominance. The Parr’s joined other political bosses to unite their power and protect themselves from the law. They also had an almost unlimited amount of funding from public taxes that they illegally took. Many more reasons to how they kept control of Duval County. Politicians today do old too much power just like the Parr family. Not all politicians are corrupt but a lot of them seem to be selfish and only trying to better themselves. The major of Premont Texas has been arrested twice in the last two weeks for abusing her power and breaking the law, just one of many examples of local small town politicians that try to abuse the system and feel like they can do whatever they