Corruption

Corruption — What Is It and How Bad Is It?*

Let's first ask: what exactly is corruption?
Most people believe it’s a hideous crime practiced by hardened criminals.

Yet corruption, in its simplest form, is practiced daily by ordinary people — often without realizing it.

At the other extreme, politics and corruption are barely distinguishable.

So what am I getting at?

When we slip extra cash to the maitre d' for a better table, we cross the line of a legal transaction — one that should be formally booked and recorded. Instead, the money is pocketed, enriching the individual at the expense of other patrons and the establishment itself.

This may sound harsh, and much could be argued in defence of such acts.

And politics? How can that be seen as another form of corruption?

Politics is simply the art of negotiation. An outcome is identified, and the means to achieve it become clear: you have what I want; I have the means to get it.

In good negotiations, a win-win solution is the goal.
But in practice, the balance often tilts.

In American politics, "pork-barrel spending" — allocations aimed at securing support — is commonplace. Enticements, whether in cash or favours, are accepted as part of doing business.

In an attempt to reduce the appearance of corruption, the Americans introduced the concept of lobbying — a pseudo-form of corruption, formalized by specific rules that merely obfuscate the obvious.

Some time ago, the British Government issued stricter guidelines for companies wishing to operate in South America. While acknowledging that virtually all South American countries — and many officials — expected under-the-table payments to grease the wheels, companies were nonetheless urged to exercise restraint in what they offered.

In effect, the need to navigate corruption was recognised — even as it was discouraged.

Corruption, however, becomes criminal when there is excessive enrichment for a limited few.

It is almost inevitable that elected officials have businesses or interests that benefit from the decisions they influence. Added to this is a growing sense of power, and the belief that the political system is so poorly regulated that a little here and a little there will go unnoticed.

But real corruption is something else entirely.
It is the deliberate manipulation of systems and people for the sole purpose of amassing power and wealth — no matter the cost.

Ask yourself this: have these recent episodes of extreme tariff blackjack not simply been a more sophisticated form of mass manipulation, resulting in extreme — and highly predictable — knee-jerk reactions, where massive fortunes were simply 'rearranged' and those in the game stepped out with their pockets bulging?

And that is the critical distinction:

True corruption is not everyday politics or social manipulation. It is absolute and pervasive crime.

So when scandals like Mensalão, Correios, and others are paraded as massive corruption, remember: politics has been played this way for centuries.
Politics only becomes "corruption" when the truth can no longer be hidden.

This isn't a defence of such acts. It's a reminder that many of the advances we celebrate today were built, directly or indirectly, on corruption — to a degree we willingly ignore because we like the results and profit from them.

👁️ Views (0)