Personally, I think it goes back the Reagan years. It seems to me that that's when the deliberate effort to destroy any sense of "The Commons" went into effect.
Greed was exulted, every-man-for-himself was exulted, the sense of community and shared responsibility was denigrated, as was all sense of "the common good".
Yes, those in positions of power totally ran with the new paradigm, but even among the populace at large there was a shift. People stopped thinking of themselves as part of a larger whole, and devolved into an overall attitude of "survival of the fittest" - led, of course, by the examples being presented to them by those in power.
So, yes - corruption from sea to shining sea - it's had its effect on our entire culture and society as a whole. 
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