In 1824, the House of Representatives awarded the Presidency to John Quincy Adams after Henry Clay, who was then the House Speaker, concluded that he wouldn’t be President and cut a deal that landed him the job of Secretary of State.

It seemed like a good deal for Adams and a good deal for Clay.  But to supporters of Andrew Jackson, America’s first true populist leader, this was a “corrupt bargain”, a sign of a decadent and untrustworthy political process, and a rallying cry for a new class of American voters.

The “corrupt bargain” would haunt both Adams and Clay for the rest of their careers.  Adams became only the second one-term President (the first was his father), losing easily to Jackson in 1828.  Clay, although he would prove to be the most powerful Speaker in history, would never become President.

Congressional Democrats are now embarking on their own version of the “corrupt bargain”.   House Democrats have dreamed up a parliamentary device to vote on a health care bill that will become the law of the land (for how long, nobody really knows), without actually ever voting on it.  Read more...