However, just like in yesterday's post where we saw how our nation's financial destruction is following down the same path of Italy's financial ruin, it appears the corruption within our democracy is following the lead of government and political corruption in India. This analogy becomes clear when we review two recent news articles.
The first article was contained in the "Briefing"section of the October 14, 2011 issue of The Week magazine. It was entitled, "India's Fed Up Middle Class" and it covered the following information:
- This past summer, tens of thousands of Indians marched in the streets to protest the high degree of government and political corruption in the country.
- For example, in 2010 it was uncovered that friends of the ruling Congress Party had wasted $40 billion of taxpayer wealth by awarding telecom contracts to well connected businessmen in exchange for bribes. In America, we call well connected businessmen "lobbyists" and we call bribes "campaign donations."
- Also in 2010, it was revealed how ineptly the government had mismanaged the staging of the Commonwealth Games that year. According to the article, $10 billion was spent building stadiums and infrastructure that were largely useless for the general public, and much of that money was squandered through corruption, incompetence, and bribery. Sounds like what we do in this country when it comes to government programs like Social Security and Medicare, programs that waste hundreds of billions of dollars every year, also through corruption, incompetence, and bribery.
- The article asserts that bribery is a way of life for every Indian, that just about any contact with any government agency involves having to pay a bribe, whether it involves getting a marriage license, getting through through customs, or getting a telephone installed. Sounds like the way ex-Illinios Governor, and soon to be prison inmate, Rod Blagojevich ran his governor's office when he shook down businesses and individuals for bribes in return for favorable state government legislative treatment.
- A recent opinion poll in India found that two thirds of all who responded in the poll reported that they have had to bribe a government official in the past just to get something done that the government required.
- A call center employee told the Washington Post recently that he had to actually pay a $20 bribe to a government official before he could get a birth certificate for his new born son.
Although we may not be as far along as India when it comes to political corruption, e.g. I do not believe most Americans have ever had to pay a bribe to get a simple government document such as a marriage license or birth certificate, there are many troubling parallels at the higher political level, as pointed out above.
But it is not just bribes and politicians enriching themselves that show how the decline of democracy and freedom in our country and India is so comparable. Consider the sad story of Shehla Massod of India.
Ms. Massod had used India's newly passed public document freedom of information act to expose the corruption of local politicians. She engaged in such analysis when she became suspicious that her company never won any government contracts. Her story was told in the October 24, 2011 issue of Business Week.
Once she got her hands on some government documents, she found out her suspicions were right. The documents showed that many times she was the lowest bidder on many government contracts but was never assigned the job. She continued to investigate by requesting other government documents and became an activist against government corruption, investigating government expense issues, environmental harm issues, and other topics, eventually sharing her corruption findings with newspapers.
Unfortunately, Ms. Masood was shot and killed in a criminal case that is still open. The article explained that once an ordinary Indian citizen asks for government documents, that request is often secretly forwarded to the government officials that are likely to be affected by the request. It goes on to document how over a dozen such ordinary citizens, whose only trespass was attempting to find out the truth about their government, have been assassinated once they received the documents. You cannot live in a free country when citizen whistle blowers who expose political class and government crime risk their lives in doing so.
Now, I do not believe that this situation has gotten as bad in the U.S. but there are some early, troubling parallels. First, the political class in our Congress has exempted themselves from whistle blower laws. Thus, if a Congressional staffer becomes aware of corruption and wrong doing within any part of Congress, if he or she speaks out, they risk sidetracking or assassinating their government career since our Federal whistle blower laws provide no protection in this case. While not as bad as getting physically assassinated as in India, much illegal activity by Congressional members may be going unheard, unreported, and not prosecuted due to this exemption our politicians have provided to themselves.
This situation becomes more ominous when you consider news reports from several months ago. At that point in time, the Justice Department wanted to exempt itself from America's Freedom of Information Act. They wanted to be able to actually lie and say requested documents did not exist even if they did and the Justice Department could put their hands on them. This is very scary stuff, allowing the government to actually lie to its citizens.
If memory serves me right, this request to suppress information requested under the Freedom of Information Act was withdrawn once it came to light, a small victory for freedom. Hopefully, it was not a temporary victory since it is obvious that forces in the U.S. political class and the government would certainly be more comfortable providing the least amount of information possible about their actions and goings on, much like the politicians in Inida.
Woodrow Wilson summed up this dilemma quite nicely almost a hundred years ago: "Government ought to be all outside and no inside. . . . Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety." Secrecy also usually means political class and government corruption in this country and if we are not careful, it will lead to Indian style suppression and assassinations. That is a place we do not want to follow India to.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
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