How can Illinois Politics be so Corrupt?

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For decades I've heard about the corruption of Illinois politicians and justice system. For a system to be that corrupt, two things have happen. 1) Those who are corrupt are protected by the infrastructure. 2) Those who aren't corrupt, know about the corruption, but keep their mouths shut. When the infrastructure is protecting the corrupt and peretuating the corruption, the only people who make it to the top are those who are corrupt, since those who aren't corrupt can't ever beat those who are. Those who aren't corrupt are kept quiet out of fear of those who are corrupt. Political careers rely on the established people taking the new people under their wings and helping them move up when the old guard has decided they are ready. In a corrupt system, the old guard makes sure those who aren't corrupt can only get so high in the system. They want to keep the corrupt ball rolling, so the last thing they want is an uncorrupt person getting too far... on the other hand, they do want the uncorrupt to get so far because they are the ones the rest will hold up as models when the citizens start complaining about the corruption. As long as a few can be proven to be honest, the rest can appear that way. Boat rockers are taken care of long before they get enough real power to do anything about it. So what does this say about Barack Obama? He claims that he doesn't know anything about the corruption... yet everyone seems to know about the corruption, so how could he be so involved in Illinois politics and not know anything about it? Sure, he could be an uncorrupt man. He has made it to the top, but not in Illinois politics. It could very well be that the powers that be in Illinois supported him for president to get him out of the game before he got to dangerous to it. There is evidence that this could be true. On the other hand, he may not be one of the corrupt ones, but it really stretches the suspension of disbelief for us to imagine that he can make it to State Senator and NOT know who the corrupt ones are. As a lawyer and a community activist he had to have gotten to know a lot of people in the system. So this wouldn't speak well of Prs. Elect Obama. Can you know who is corrupt and what they do without it making you corrupt yourself? If Obama knows what the corrupt have done to the people of his state and kept his mouth shut about it, is he innocent at all? It all comes down to a couple of questions... Is Illinois politics as corrupt as we've always heard it is? If it truly that corrupt, is there anyone in the system that can claim they don't know anything about it? Or do we just have Sgt Schultz in the White House now?