Politics and Prestige

Recently, it has been uncovered that California senators have been receiving immense amounts of personal gifts from various companies and interest groups. This news does not come as a complete shock due to the senate’s recent rejection of a law that would disallow all the acceptance of such gifts or put in place certain limits. New reports released Friday show legislators accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of meals, trips and tickets for multiple sporting and entertainment events. For example, Senator Ron Calderon received two tickets worth $392 to a Lady Gaga concert from oil company BP America, $1,840 worth of hotel accommodations and receptions from the prison guards union, four rounds of golf costing up to $420 each, $785 worth of golf clubs and an iPad from various interest groups.This class of politicians have continued to maintain a high status while simultaneously maintaing a large amount of occupational prestige among American society. In this case prestige and wealth are closely intertwined. It is unfortunate that those who are appointed to protect United States citizens are also accepting extravagant gifts that consciously infringe on the rights of millions of people. Nowadays policy can easily be easily influenced by a pair of Lady Gaga tickets.

By: Nicole Emerich

Article can be found at:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/03/california-electeds-lavished-with-pricey-meals-sports-tickets-trips.html