Corruption

Corruption in government is simply an extension of lawlessness in a society. As a humanist, I recognize that equality and justice are dependent on the equal and just application of equal and just laws. This applies to traffic regulations as well as violent crime. 

A small local story here in Boston could easily be ignored as petty. The member of a prominent real estate dynasty apparently had a valet-parking sign installed by the city illegally in front of her office. She has been using that space, in a busy public parking zone, as her private space for many years. It seems a courageous whistle blower has managed to get that sign removed. 

This is an example of the petty corruption practiced by the wealthy against the public interest. Anyone who has lived in a city center can share a similar anecdote. The frequently unused loading zone, used as a private parking space by a proprietor, in front of a store which has a loading dock behind it is one example. The commercial truck which feels free to use handicap parking is another. 

Lawlessness creeps in. We have two decades of popular music which lionizes gangsters. A major political force, The Tea Party, prides itself on despising taxation to the point of making illegal tax-avoidance a heroic act. Our own national government bends the laws protecting personal privacy in order to protect us from alleged terrorist attacks. Racialist policies in the name of affirmative action often tread the line between just accommodation and undermining proper standards of education. 

Following the law is often impractical and inconvenient from an emotional point of view. If I am late for an appointment, I am less likely to closely watch my speedometer or may be less forgiving of a dawdling pedestrian who hasn't quite indicated that he is going to use the crosswalk he is standing in. 

Recently I saw a woman of middle age steal a considerable amount of groceries at my local market. She was dressed in new clothes. She had a hairdo and manicure which looked professionally done. She was wearing gold jewelry. She had secreted two full bags of groceries in the bottom tier of her cart. She passed several items in the top of her cart through the scanner of the self checkout. She paid for those items with a government-provided debit card. When I shared what I saw with the store attendant, whose job was watching for this kind of theft, she shrugged and looked at me as though I was acting strangely.

We all pay for those stolen groceries, as well as the subsidized items which are paid for. We pay in increased prices to cover the proprietor's overhead. It is not "victim-less" crime. 

Corruption unravels the social fabric from within like a slow-growing cancer. It is fueled by the million of individual decisions made by members of a society for their convenience or profit. Once out of control, as we have seen recently in Mexico, the remedies are catastrophic and marginally effective. My emphasis on individual ethical practice comes from my realization that this is the only way in which a society avoids corruption. Each individual has the power to effect the integrity of the society and its laws. Parents and teachers are particularly powerful in promoting ethics in society or undermining them.  Developing ethics in the minds of our children is a matter of setting example.