Lisa Van Dusen writes that corruption has taken centre stage in our politics. In the battle between democracy and authoritarianism, corruption is seminal -- because corruption is all about incentives and disincentives:
The hypercorruption that has spread through the financial system, the political world, the intelligence community and Big Tech for the past two decades — most vividly in the weaponization of Donald Trump but ringing like a bell through the 2008 market collapse, the Citizens United US Supreme Court decision in 2010, the series of intelligence “failures” from the incomprehensible handling of China since its accession to the WTO in 2001, to the Iraq invasion, to the CIA hacking of Congress, to the 2016 election interference, to the recent months-long hack perpetrated against US government targets, to the exploitation and impunity of major technology platforms — has brought us to this juncture. Among other trends that have culminated in the recent run of atrocious years, the first two decades of the 21st century may be known as the era when corruption made democracy inconvenient for capitalism, because democracy includes accountability, oversight, and the approval of the people as the price of power.
One of the functions of any government should be to stamp out corruption. But to achieve that objective, government has to function. Unfortunately, right-wing governments around the world have been dedicated to making sure that government fails. Joe Biden now faces a sustained effort to make him fail. But now, the push for Biden's failure is driven by more than right-wing politicians:
Joe Biden is already confronting opposition determined to make him fail not because making government fail is the core of rightwing politics but because he has derailed that segue. This is now about the fact that making democracy fail is the goal of interests who never want to have to tether their fates to stoking either the satisfaction or rage of any base, ever again.
There is hope if people can see beyond the doubletalk and doublethink which have dominated our politics. But we have a long way to go.
Image: waterintegritynetwork.net
8 comments:
Joe Biden now faces a sustained effort to make him fail.
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Joe Biden is firmly a somewhat corrupt right-wing US politician. He was not known as the "Senator from MasterCard" for nothing.
We can hope that he can reverse some of the Orange One's most egregious policies but given his record and those of many of his chosen incoming team I am not particularly optimistic for any great improvements in either domestic or foreign policy. Foreign policy is unlikely to be as erratic as Trump's.
I admit it is a matter of degree, jrk. Politics is always far from perfect.
Corruption is the effluent of oligarchy posing as democracy. This was explored in the Gilens and Page paper out of Princeton in 2014. They showed, convincingly, how, when the public interest clashed with powerful private interests, Congress usually sided with special interests over the public.
It's a process of capture. America functions with a "bought and paid for" Congress. That drove McCain and Russ Feingold to introduce campaign finance reform legislation to drive the "donor class" out of America's elections. Of course it failed. Theirs was only the most recent attempt to drive the money changes from the temple. Teddy Roosevelt, as far back as 1910, championed the cause. He broke up the big cartels, the "trusts," but their money continued to flow to senators and representatives.
Legislative capture led to regulatory capture and, before long, into the White House. Who can forget George W. Bush's attendance at a white tie gala where, from the podium, he greeted the guests calling them his "base, the 'haves' and the 'have mores." With former Haliburton CEO, Dick Cheney, pulling many of Bush's strings (at least through the first term) it was a happy time for corporatism. America, especially Haliburton, even got in to the "for profit" warfighting business.
Corporatism largely thwarted Obama's attempts at reform. The Left that loves to attack Obama act as though they never heard of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the vehicle by which American corporations gave legislators - state and federal - their marching orders, even handing them fully drafted bills. When David and Charlie objected to something, Mitch McConnell ensured it was dead on arrival in the Senate.
Trump simply took capture one step further by insinuating reliable right wingers to dominate the Supreme Court. There goes your vaunted system of checks and balances out the window.
Sorry to go on at such length but this stuff really pisses me off.
As it should, Mound. Deep Throat's prime directive to Woodward and Bernstein still applies: Follow the money.
I wouldn't count on voters to deal with corruption. If the MSM doesn't do its job people will just ignore it all until it bites them personally in the ass. By that time it will be too late.
The Dissaffected Lib. is quite correct about what he writes. And yes, those checks and balances went out the window when trump stacked the Supreme Court. You can always expect corporations, people to steal with one hand and government/the system will survive, but when they start stealing with two hands, you have a problem. We have a huge problem in this world. the U.S.A. has become a "shit hole" country as described by Trump. We have to look no further than B.C. and all the money laundering which went on when the B.C. Lieberals were in office. It wasn't a secret, but a lot of people were making money and the B.C. LIeberals were just fine with all that money laundering.
How can you tell some one is from B.C.? They know a hockey bag will contain $750K in $20s.
That's an interesting final question, e.a.f. But there are a lot of people from a lot of other places who know the same thing.
My 1st instinct for our vaccine excess was to give it to non-corrupt Modi, but they have more than us soon. I suppose there are some populations the USA would mildly prefer are wiped out; who might conquer earth if given the chance. Mutated UK would need vaccine, and perhaps fintech hotspots of S.A. and Nairobi. Where microfinance is available, people will be able to recover better even without modern healthcare, if their bankers are immune. There is a need for nursing schools in Africa and some nations can use things like IVs, steroids, X-rays. All could use blankets and education about the prone positions, PPE, handwashing, emergency field hospitals shoddily made. Reducing pollution would be aided by a different gvmt structure in China: someone with an insane spouse would likely be screened out of gvmt in the West by their own security forces. I suppose the core western nations and maybe Russia can model the pollution and nanotech medicines's toxicity, but until better ideals and competencies are there, we will have to dole out targeted forms of tricle-down healthcare and later neuro-imaging may be a foreign policy agenda.
Of pertinence, air travel is maintained to the UK in North America to win the industry aerospace.
As far as many governments are concerned, Phillip, lots of things trump -- pun intended -- health care.
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