Civil-Bribery

Bribery is condemned worldwide as harmful to a culture or civilization.

Bribing officials is rampant worldwide. In the USA we literally call campaign contributions “Legalized Bribery.“

Yet it is almost never prosecuted. This article explains why, and how to genuinely stop this flood of corruption.

Bribery is defined as Taking or Giving Money (or something of value) to Influence a Political Decision by someone with political power: Elected or Appointed Officials (or un-elected Bureaucrats / government Staff).

Bribery Laws are Criminal laws for good reason: We need government decisions to be made fairly. Residents and Voters get angry and even furious when a political favor is given to someone (else) for a bribe.

“That Isn’t Fair!”

Worse, corrupt decisions rarely solve real (Public) problems; typically making problems worse.

We expect and demand harsh penalties for those guilty of that corruption.

As of 2025, at least 99.9% of our civilization’s Bribery laws are Criminal laws, as are the United Nations Convention against Corruption and California Laws.

The problem is that Criminal Bribery is essentially Impossible to Prosecute !

Why? Because Criminal Bribery Laws require an impossibly high bar to convict. So even the best prosecutors almost never bring such cases to court.

Essentially one of the two offending “parties” violating this sacred position of Trust – has to admit to the bribe, in writing or recorded.

But Why would anyone risk jail by recording a confession? Its almost as rare an event as Unicorns Flying.

That problem comes from the legal standard for criminal acts called “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.“

That standard is roughly equivalent to 98% certainty; or 98% of evidence in favor of a conviction.

So Bribers and Bribees know they can get away with it (as long as they keep their mouth shut). And it goes on daily – worldwide.

So we’re stuck. We know Bribery is rampant, that we need to stop it, but we can’t ever put violators in jail !

Here’s Hope !

Instead, imagine an improved Bribery law, perfectly suited for catching corrupt government officials – with a much lower conviction bar. And getting them tossed out of politics forever.

Something simple to Prosecute.

Please Give a Warm Welcome to Civil Bribery laws.

What we’ve created is a dramatically improved version of a Bribery law, much better suited for catching, stopping and even Reversing corrupt government official decisions – with a much easier conviction hurdle.

An easy to prosecute law that is not handicapped by “Citizens United.”

It also fixes a ficticious loophole created by a Supreme Court decision written by Brett Kavanaugh in Snyder v. United States

You might recognize this lower hurdle / bar as “Preponderance of the Evidence.” This means a prosecutor only needs 51% of the evidence (instead of 98%), so that a Judge or Jury can far more easily find the government official has violated the law.

This means anyone, such as a reporter, an interested citizen or a non-profit researcher, can match it up an elected official’s campaign contribution list with their votes.

And Bingo – Game, Set and Match. We’ve got em.

What we lose is putting the guilty in jail.

However, what these laws can do immediately is —

1) “Void” or Unwind corrupt decisions and contracts,

2) Impose Substantial Fines on both Briber and Bribee (such as 10% – 200% or more of the value of the corrupt decision)

3) Remove the government official from office and government jobs – permanently

4) Permanently Block the offending official and the briber from government work, government contracts or lobbying.

As example: Lets take the 2022 US Congressional House Armed Services Committee, where 41 of 42 congresspersons took campaign contributions from military contractors who directly benefited from their votes on contracts.

So now imagine for a moment we had a Civil Bribery law in place back in 2022.

Now only one of the House members (Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma) can vote or even discuss in committee a contract that would benefit a contractor.

All the other Civil “Bribees” who took campaign cash from a contractor-who-could-financially-benefit from a vote, have to step down from the committee while the remaining members, if any, discuss and vote on it.

The Reverse is also true – with a Civil Bribery law in place, if any of the 41 Congresspersons who voted on it or even lobbied their colleagues and then After the vote took campaign contributions from military contractors who directly financially benefited from their votes – the Vote and any Contract is also Voided; Rescinded.

The only drawback is that violating such a law does not directly or immediately send the violators to Prison. I believe that is a smallprice to pay for stopping our existing outrageous system that rewards bribes. There’s a good reason its broadly referred to as “Legalized Bribery.”

However that – is how you can Stop Political Bribery – Anywhere, Quickly and Easily !

This new method needs no restrictions on campaign contributions, thereby avoiding the “campaign contributions equal free speech” problem. Just as importantly it is a civil law, as opposed to a criminal law, which only requires “a preponderance” (meaning only 51%” of the evidence) making it far easier to prosecute. This also allows public interest groups to file suit, rather than begging a prosecutor to file one.

It allows even the most reprehensible corporation or its legal firm to essentially pay for a candidate’s entire election campaign, to buy them a house or pay for their children’s schooling — allowing them unlimited “free speech.”

But if they do so, that public official is then prohibited from voting on, making a decision upon, or even trying to influence any decision where the contributor, their clients, or any immediate family members of those businesses would realize a benefit, financial or otherwise – greater than a member of the general public.

Most importantly it also prohibits a campaign contribution or a gift after the public official makes a decision on their project.

Unlike Criminal laws, Civil Bribery laws can be enforced by citizens and non-profit groups using “Private Attorney General” laws. This is vital because corrupt officials can block enforcement of criminal laws like Trump did immediately after taking office in 2025.

Here’s some sample language that can be used to adopt this law for your city, state or country. — Sample Law

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For more – please see — https://1hope.org/cofi.htm