The United States, the most advanced country in the world, has an incredibly corrupt government.
I'm feeling contentious tonight, so I'd like to take on both halves of that sentence.
I am not at all sure that 1) the United States is the most "advanced" country in the world. Most "powerful," yes. But most "advanced"? In which respects?
Nor would I say that it has an "incredibly corrupt government." By world standards, it really is not that corrupt. Most places in the world, people take corruption for granted, and shrug their shoulders about it, unless the civil servants and policemen and suchlike that they have to pay off all the time get just too greedy.
At lower levels, our civil service is, by world standards, incredibly honest. I would say the same of most local governments -- and even of most police forces. For example, when I tell people from the former Soviet Union (is that one-fourth or one-sixth of the world's surface?) that I have never paid -- or received -- a bribe in my life, they don't believe me.
The trouble is mostly at the top. But then, the top is always being investigated. (We do have laws that people are expected to obey.) That is why we know the specifics of the corruption. And much of it is pretty penny ante stuff, compared to the Bank of New York scandal, the Marcos family, etc., etc., etc.
And seems to me that much of the corruption is connected with fund-raising for political campaign. And here, the corruption is pretty much built into the system: another argument for radically, completely overhauling campaign financing.
Joan
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