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
