Corruption vs. Progress
July 28th, 2008 by Wil Robinson
The West often rails against the rampant corruption that plagues developing countries. From our perspective, it seems that corruption is a major obstacle that prevents many countries from obtaining the progress we have enjoyed. Yet we may be wrongly assuming our own value placed on an honest politician is the ideal for everyone else.
Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend regarding all things India: the recent terrorist attacks in Gujarat, who the responsible parties might be, the role of Pakistan and their infamous intelligence service (ISI), the shrinking opportunities and increased ghettoization of India’s Muslims, and the growing movement toward violence as a solution.
As any discussion about terrorism in India always does, we began to debate why Pakistanis never have had a true leader that represents their interests. Pakistan has been ruled by one military general after another - interspersed with a few corrupt politicians that were merely puppets for the ISI. Real elections, real representation, and real freedoms have eluded ordinary Pakistanis virtually since its inception in 1947.
My friend - a liberal-minded Indian woman from Kolkata - was especially disheartened by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last December.
“Yeah, but Pakistan needs a real leader,” I retorted. “Someone new, someone fresh, who really is elected by the people. Even Bhutto was corrupt.”
“You have to be corrupt to be a politician,” my friend said. “At least she was progressive.”
The words “corrupt” and “politician” occur together far too often in our vocabulary, but in the West, it is usually said tongue-in-cheek.
When young people refuse to vote, they often give the (lame) excuse that “all politicians are corrupt.” But at its core even they know it’s not true.
When Duke Cunningham’s career ended in allegations of blatant corruption, we joked about how politicians all take bribes, and that Cunningham just got caught. But we didn’t really believe it. We know that most politicians are not corrupt (misguided, misinformed, misled, or just plain stupid - perhaps - but not openly corrupt).
Even when Bush administration members awarded large government grants to “inner-city golf programs” that have no record of success but have the President’s father as their chairman, we avoided calling it what it is. Instead, we chalked it up to benign nepotism.
For all our joking, we know that our politicians are actually pretty honest compared to the rest of the world. (Not that this is an excuse to accept the status quo as the best it can be.)
But my friend’s response yesterday carried no sarcasm. No hint of a joke. She was serious, and accepted it as part of politics - as part of life.
An individual’s level of corruption had no bearing on her support. She only wanted someone progressive.
Last week, India’s ruling Congress-led coalition narrowly escaped a no-confidence vote that might have handed power to the right-wing nationalist opposition, the BJP. The images and news stories of members of parliament walking out with bundles of cash and openly claming they sold their votes to Congress had little bearing on the public. India didn’t care that the 120-year-old Congress party was corrupt.
All they cared was that they were more progressive than the alternative.
Tags: elections, India, bhutto, corruption, Pakistan
I have to respectfully disagree, Wil. The vast majority of our politicians ARE corrupt. They may not be ‘openly corrupt’, but corrupt is corrupt. It matters not if they are ‘in the closet’ or not. ‘misguided, misinformed, misled, or just plain stupid’ are no more than weak excuses, giving them a ‘free pass’. The only thing that is truly debatable is the degree of corruption.
I think proof of this lies in how Congress cow-tows to everything the lamest lame-duck President in history demands. Even though his term is coming to an end, they still bow down and kiss his ring. Have you ever asked yourself, ‘Why’?
It’s the old CYA. All of the illegal wiretapping was not aimed at the average American, we were only lagniappe. The cardinal goal of the wiretapping was the ones in power. Sound far-fetched? Think I’ve got my tin-foil hat on too tight? Think I’m smoking something? Need I remind you of how J Edgar Hoover held on to his power in the FBI for 47 years? Eisenhower and Kennedy both wanted to fire him, but eventually backed down. He had dossiers on everybody. The only one who could finally take him out was the Grim Reaper.
When politicians continue to vote and legislate contrary to what’s in America’s best interests, there is only ONE reason: CORRUPTION.
Alors, saying that American politicians are not mostly corrupt, is saying one is comfortable living in a fantasy world.
BT-
I’m referring to corruption on a whole other level. The kind of corruption where $2.50 slid underneath your visa application will put you at the front of the line. The kind of corruption where it parliament members are openly displaying the wads of cash they took in return for their vote.
We can debate the values and morals of our own politicians endlessly, but in a country like India, the voting public is more concerned with whether or not politicians are progressive. If they take cash openly, so be it. But what are their politics? Are they taking that cash in order to progress, or regress?