The Banking and Monetary Reform Committee (BMRC) of the Green Party, in observance of International Anti-Corruption Day, has issued a statement that emphasizes the role that our monetary system plays in the vast corruption in our government.

The observance of International Corruption Day was established in 2003 by the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), which is a legally binding multilateral treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2003, and entered into force in December 2005.

Among provisions for international cooperation in prosecuting crimes of corruption, the treaty also encourages member states to enact legislation for the prevention and elimination of corruption at all levels of government. It calls for the protection of witnesses, victims, and whistleblowers to promote efficient law enforcement. There are few signs of improvement in our government since 2003. In fact, corruption seems to have increased to the point where there are few attempts to even hide the level of corruption. President Obama left a legacy of war against whistleblowers. Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange continue to be persecuted and prosecuted by the U. S. Justice Department.

The Supreme Court effectively legalized bribery through its decision in the Citizens United case that allows unfettered spending by corporations on political campaigns. This has effectively allowed banks and other large corporations to “buy” members of Congress. As a result, studies have shown that public opinion has virtually no impact on policy decisions and legislation enacted by Congress. We no longer have a democracy. Members of Congress continually violate the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, also known as the STOCK Act, by trading stock based on their insider knowledge gained through Congressional committees. The act only requires reporting of stock trading, and the fine for violation is only $200 and is often waived by ethics officials.

COP27 has demonstrated that the corruption fostered by corporatism and capitalism continues to prevent meaningful solutions to the problems of climate change. The oil industry was given the privilege of including 636 lobbyists to present what some critics claim included misinformation. With Russia and the United States having the highest per capita CO2 emissions, the United States continues to fuel the proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, and continues to create environmental pollution around the globe with its military bases and other activities.

Corruption runs on money - which must be understood to eliminate corruption. Since money is the mechanism of corruption it is no surprise that the private banks and financial institutions are the heaviest contributors to election campaigns. Moreover, they control the creation and allocation of our money which gives them the power to corrupt and control the entire economic development of the nation. This makes them the premier corruptors. We have a monetary system that is institutionalized usury.

Transparency.org defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.” Usury is defined as “the abuse of monetary authority for private gain.” Thus, our entire economic system is based on corruption. To eliminate corruption, we will have to change the monetary system.

Through BMRC, the Green Party is engaged in educating its members and the public about the corruption of the banking institutions. The special privilege and power of creating the country’s money supply by making loans, has allowed the banks to accumulate enough wealth to control the largest corporations and dictate public policy in the country. The Green Party platform calls for reforming of the monetary system, requiring a change to publicly creating and issuing the nation’s money.

The solution to corruption is to change the monetary system from privately created debt being used for money to publicly created money that instead of a debt is a public asset on the books. Public money then can be spent into the economy for the needs of people and planet debt free. This solution in the Green Party Platform, which was researched and developed by the American Monetary Institute, contains the critical components of monetary reform proposals world-around. Further, it was made into a bill for the U.S. Congress and introduced by Dennis Kucinich in 2010 & 2011, known as the NEED ACT (or HR2990 of the 112th Congress).

Furthermore, bankers enjoy de facto immunity from prosecution. Therefore, no bankers were prosecuted after the economic collapse in 2008, despite having created the collapse through the use of massive fraudulent transactions. This must change because the stakes have become too high to allow it to continue.

The Green Party supports the work done by some non-government organizations that promote an end to the massive government corruption. One such organization, Represent.us , focuses on corruption through the promotion of a federal Anti-Corruption Act. It has also been instrumental in passing anti-corruption legislation in 161 state and local governments during the last 10 years. Transparency International is another global organization that “holds the powerful and corrupt to account, by exposing the systems and networks that enable corruption,” and “advocates for policies and builds coalitions to change the status quo.”

Effective anti-corruption legislation at the federal level, together with monetary reform of the Federal Reserve System, would provide solutions that would return democracy to the country and eliminate much of the social injustices that plague our society.