Political corruption occurs when political leaders abuse their power to advance their own agenda. This corruption manifests itself in the United States in many different forms, including bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, cronyism, bribery, and embezzlement. These corrupt practices often have a negative effect on public life. The negative effects of political corruption include lack of quality services, lack of justice, contempt for government officials, and lack of trust in government. Although many studies of these corrupt government practices focus on the federal government, political corruption occurs just as often at the state and local government levels. Many efforts[1] have been made to stop these corrupt practices in the US government, but they have been difficult to enforce and have not proven effective. State and local governments have a high level of corruption and this can be harmful to the citizens of these cities and states even more than corruption at the federal level. The lack of transparency leaves citizens in the dark about these corrupt practices and their effects, so it is important to be aware of the causes of this corruption in order to put an end to it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There are many causes of political corruption at the state and local levels, including personal greed, lack of effective punishment, and lack of transparency in business. The most significant of these is the lack of business transparency. When state and local governments lack transparency, participation declines, access to information is limited, and citizens are overall left in the dark. This lack of transparency allows for high levels of corrupt practices because citizens are unable to question the actions of their government leaders. Transparency is important at all levels of government, but when it comes to addressing transparency at the local level it is important to focus on transparency in strategic management and transparency in interaction with citizens.[2] State and local governments often do not provide adequate access to information, leading to citizen distrust and the risk of even greater corruption. Allowing adequate access to government information will make government agencies more responsive and at the same time have a positive effect on levels of public participation in state and local government. The lack of transparency in state and local government is a major factor contributing to the high level of political corruption, and decreasing the level of corruption will require open government that encourages citizen interaction. Along with the lack of transparency, personal greed plays a major role. role in state and local government corruption. When government leaders allow their personal greed to take over, the citizens of the states or cities they work for suffer. Greed often leads to corrupt practices such as bribery, embezzlement, and extortion. These practices often misuse taxpayers' money and abuse citizens' trust. Citizens trust that their tax money will be used in a way that benefits the public whether it be education, healthcare, or development in the city, but when government leaders decide to use tax money to do things like fund own political campaign or give their department unjustified bonuses, the taxpaying citizens must suffer. There have been many testimonies of.