generalspeaking

Hold Your Nose

What's that stench? Why, it's universal corruption, the mendacious nature of human beings.

It's the understated contempt in which politicians around the world are viewed by their subjects who hold them to the very same standards of decency and ethical behaviour as is imposed upon the citizens whom elected officials are said to represent. Something peculiar happens on the way to achieving political power; it has a tendency, that power, to appear to give entitlements that really are illicit.

Sometimes the best-intentioned individuals suffer a breakdown in their comprehension of morals and ethics, and everything flows into the general atmosphere of position, power - and entitlements. There are some countries of the world where corruption is legendarily endemic, a long tradition of baksheesh, wherever it appears, and whatever it is named.

Greece, and India, both exemplary countries to be certain, with wonderful heritage properties in culture and politics are eminently corrupt. There are countries like Afghanistan where corruption is simply a way of life. Even though many within society struggle against it, and wish something better for themselves.

In Thailand, a country that has long suffered under military dictatorships and relatively recently turned to a twisted version of democracy overlaid with corruption, violence rages with a large contingent of workers defying their government. As indeed it does in Greece, with the entire population accustomed to evading paying income taxes, enraged that their services and entitlements will now be cut back.

The United States of America has latterly, through the public office of its eminently respectable and corruption-averse president, made it abundantly clear to the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, that it, a large funder of public works in that country, (along with other NATO countries), with a substantial military presence in that benighted and poor country (something like Haiti) is fed up with the extent of corruption and the waste of lives and grants from the international community.

Afghanistan, like all other endemically corrupt governments and nations, should emulate that bastion of democracy and freedom, the United States of America. Which, to its personal shame, has government, politicians and bureaucracy which fully two-thirds of Americans believe are corrupt. On the 'Corruption Perception Index' issued by Transparency International, the U.S. stands 19th from the top, trailing Britain and Japan. There are a whole lot worse, to be sure.

But charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, embezzlement, misuse of public funds, influence peddling and many other crimes are commonly proven in open court and the politicians involved sent to jail for periods of time reflective of the crime they have committed. From accepting $2000 in bribe money to $2-million. Scruples seem to bend with the wind of opportunity.

From Texas to Florida, California to Illinois, Ohio to New York, corruption appears to be the business of an awful lot of politicians aspiring to a more accommodating life-style. Sad, isn't it?

Labels: That's Life, United Nations

posted by Pieface @ Sunday, May 16, 2010