Selling Out—Past and Presentrnbv Alfred E. EckesrnMany who lea’e Main Street, U.S.A., to do good in Washington,rnD.C., remain on to do well for them.sclves.rnSince the beginnings of the Ameriean Republic, thousands ofrnformer congressmen, staff assistants, and senior officials inrnthe executive branch have trod that familiar career path. ^I’hernbright and ambitious, as well as the foolish and indolent, discoverrngold along the banks of the Potomac River and succumbrnto “Potomac fever.” In the process, these incipientrnpower-brokers and mercenaries shed local attachments andrnforget the common people who first selected them to serve.rnOver the last 20 years, however, this pattern has changed inrnone significant respect. Previously, officials departed governmentrnto extract gold from domestic cmplovers—banks, oilrncompanies, railroads, manufacturers, and even some laborrnunions. Now former bigwigs pimp and pluck for alien interests.rnThe extent of foreign influence-peddling in governmentrnwould not surprise Alexander Hamilton and the authors ofrnthe Constitution, hi the Federalist Papers, Hamilton warnedrnthat republics “afford too easy an inlet to foreign corruption.”rnAcknowledging that the world had seen few instances of “royalrnprostitution,” he cautioned that historv offered “many mortifyingrnexamples of the prcvalency of foreign corruption inrnrepublican governments.”rn”hi republics,” Hamilton said, “persons elevated from thernAlfred E. Eckes is Ohio Eminent Research Professor at OhiornUniversity in Athens, Ohio. He teaches history, management,rnand journalism. From 1981 to 1990 he served on the U.S.rnInternational I’rade Commission, of which he wasrnchairman from 1982 to 1984.rnmass of the community, by the suffrages of their fellowcitizens,rnto stations of great preeminence and power, mayrnfind compensations for betraying their trust.” In particular,rnHamilton expressed concern about the President and the executivernbranch:rnA man raised from the station of a private citizen tornthe rank of chief magistrate, possessed of but a moderaternor slender fortune, and looking forward to a periodrnnot very remote, when he may probably be obliged tornreturn to the station from which he was taken, mightrnsometimes be under temptations to sacrifice his dutyrnto his interest. . . . An avaricious man might be temptedrnto betray the interests of the state to the acquisitionrnof wealth.rnHamilton and other participants in the Constitutional Conventionrnof 1787 well understood the dark side of humanrnnature, and so they wisely inserted several key cheeks andrnbalances in the nation’s fundamental document. ThernConstitutional Convention separated legislative and executivernpowers and stipulated that treaties negotiated with foreignrngovernments gain the approval of two-thirds of the Senate.rnExperience during the Confederation period had shapedrnthese decisions. In 1785, the Founders had witnessed a flagrantrnforeign effort to corrupt American public officials andrnsubvert long-term national interests. Eager to close off westwardrnexpansion across the Appalachians into the MississippirnValley, Spain attempted to lure John Jay, Secretary for ForeignrnAffairs, with personal favors to accept a commercial treatyrnand forbear claims to navigation of the Mississippi River. ACMAYrn1993/29rnrnrn