Most Corrupt/Incorrupt Countries List

Matt Rosenberg over at the About.com Geography blog posted a site that annually rates political corruption in the countries of the world.

The host site is Transparency International, which is a global coalition reporting on corruption world-wide.

180 countries are rated through a Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) that is based on 13 independent surveys.

The least corrupt (ranked from #5 to the most least corrupt #1) nations:
5 - Switzerland
4 - Sweden
3 - Singapore
2 - Denmark
1 - New Zealand (least corrupt)

The MOST corrupt (ranked from 5th most down to the most) nations:

5 - Iraq
4 - Sudan
3 - Myanmar
2 - Afghanistan
1 - Somalia (most corrupt)

Where does the United States rank in all of this???? We are ranked 19th least corrupt - right between the United Kingdom and Barbados.

The site also contains the CPI from 2001 - 2008 which can be used for comparison purposes.

This resource could be useful for engaging students in conversations and analysis as to reason for corruption (or lack of it) as well as examples of corruption at home and abroad.

Cross of Gold

One hundred thirteen years ago, on July 9, 1896, William Jennings Bryan stepped to the podium at the Democratic National Convention and made what was to become one of the most famous speeches in American History.

The Democratic National Convention was debating the issue of bimetallism – the keeping of silver and gold as backing for the economic system versus following the trend of many European countries and use only a gold standard. The idea of bimetallism was popular with the common man – and was a standard for the Populist Party – but it was unpopular with big business and banking interests. The issues centered on helping those who were in debt by making money more available or protecting those who loaned money – the business and banking interests. A similar argument seems to be going on today – as well as the trend toward following others versus leading others on the international scene.

There was a reason for the debate: The People’s Party (popularly known as the Populists Party) was a popular third party. Traditionally in America when the issues backed by third parties become too popular, one of the two major parties adopt them, thus taking the steam from the upstart newcomer. Hence we’ve remained primarily a two-party system. The Populists had several popular issues that the Democrats were addressing in their platform in 1896.

Bryan – thirty-six years old – stepped to the podium and gave a speech that rocked the convention and rocketed him into the limelight.

His speech was so well received that he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President the next day. He would lose the election, and gold would become the monetary standard for the United States from 1900 until 1975, when the dollar became our ‘fiat’ money (money with no intrinsic value other than the faith and credit placed on it).

You can here Jennings recreation of the speech for a recording twenty-five years after his original speech here. YouTube has an interesting 3-minute presentation here. You can read the entire speech here. Finally, a lesson plan on bimetallism can be found here. This lesson includes an excellent video explaining the issue of bimetallism - click here to see it.

While the Cross of Gold speech is not often studied today, perhaps it is one we should take a look at again – with 113 years of perspective.

Essential Question: What relationship do the famous historic speeches of the past have on the world we live in today?

PHOTO SOURCES:

William Jennings Bryan portrait, Library of Congress ID cph 3a00786
William Jennings Bryan at the Convention, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Opposing cartoon, Wikipedia
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A Civics Question from the Past Still Relevant Today

My hobby is collecting old time radio shows (OTR). Recently I was listening to the March 18, 1939 broadcast of Information Please, hosted by Clifton Fadiman. The show has a panel of four noted and wise individuals, and the premise of the show is that it gives the public a chance to stump the experts.

These experts, including regulars such as writer, actor, pianist Oscar Levant as well as newspaper editor, columnist and intellectual Franklin P. Adams and sports columnist and intellectual John Kieran, along with guests such as playwright Moss Hart and mystery author Rex Stout (who created the fictional crime fighter Nero Wolfe) who would field an amazing array of questions, and – in the midst of fun and entertainment – answer a significant number of them correctly. After all, they were the experts.

One that stumped three of the four of the very intelligent members in the March 18th episode was one that every American should know.

Having said that, I need to come down off of my high horse and admit that I did not know the complete answer either.

Can you, without using outside resources, answer this question from the show?

From Information Please, 3/28/1939: This question has three parts.

1. Name of your Congressman.

2. Name the Congressional District you live in.

3. Name your Congressman’s political party.

What is yours?

If you are stumped on the complete answer, as I was, check here.

Essential Question: Why is political awareness a valuable and essential attibute for American citizens to have?

PHOTO RESOURCE:

Information Please Panel, from Old Time Radio Catalog.

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