Ever since our good friend “Tricky Dick” Nixon with the infamous Watergate scandal of the ’70s, the U.S. government has walked a fine line in the public’s mind between being completely corrupt and just trying to be an honest government out to serve their people.

It’s a tough decision to make. Most politicians go in with the best intentions, but get caught up in the mess that is Washington, D.C. Yes, you can persuade your constituency to vote for you the first time in, but once you’re in, lobbyists and other groups begin to make your life difficult. You don’t know how each of your voters feels about each decision you make, but you do your best anyway. That’s why they elected you, right?

The issue at hand is that most Americans aren’t informed or have the wool pulled over their eyes. American politics are interesting in the sense that most citizens hate Washington but don’t feel that same hatred for their own congressman/senator.

The whole, “Oh he’s my guy, he’s from Iowa, he won’t let us down!” may be the case for some legislators, but most of them are just as corrupt as the next one. A new online tool offered at Wired.com tells you exactly which companies are giving money to each representative and each senator.

For example, Sen. Chuck Grassley from our great state has financial backing from companies such as Microsoft, Verizon, Leon Medical Centers and even Pfizer. Most of those companies have very little base in Iowa, so you can’t really pull the local-businesses-supporting-their-representatives card either. The real question is, does Grassley’s voting reflect the interests of those companies? That’s for you to decide.

What concerns me the most is the fact that this online tool even exists. At what point do we just accept the fact that all politicians take money from companies? Keep in mind, the definition of corruption is the impairment of integrity, virtue or morale principle.

At what point are we no longer voting for a person, but rather a corporate agenda — and from there deciding which corporation we like the best? This isn’t the world I want to live in, but what can we do? We have promoted capitalism for all these years that it only makes sense that a business could buy the government, too.

Just thinking about such things really makes me sad. What about America, you know, the American Dream? What about making a difference in society? Can we still accomplish these things?

The sad truth: Not at the moment. The only way such things will change is for the word to get out that all of the government is corrupt, and not just some of it. Strong third party candidates with 100 percent transparency will also be crucial to the future of our government. Once enough politicians lose their seats, it will only be a matter of time before everyone else gets back in line.

It all comes down to what our government has been based on for the last 222 years: Vote out the bad, hope you’ve elected the good and repeat.