Call me pessimist, but I don't see corruption going away any time soon.
Loose definition of corruption would be using your "position" for "personal gains" instead of doing what is "right". The operating word here is "position". How much corrupt can a beggar be? How much corrupt can a government be? Clearly government holds such an important position that it is very likely to be corrupt. It pays to be corrupt government.
How about Lokpal? Does Lokpal holds important position? Yes it does and in some sense it holds a position more powerful than the government itself. Does it pays to be a corrupt Lokpal? Handsomely. Almost as much as a corrupt government. I kind of believe in Murphy's Law as much as I believe in gravity.
Lokpal is as susceptible to corruption as much is government or a government employee. The process of choosing Lokpal is similar to aristocracy. The difference is instead of choosing the government itself we are using it to choose the Lokpal. In some sense what Anna is saying is that Aristocracy is a better form of governance than democracy. Is it?
Solving the corruption problem needs fundamental understanding and play between the concepts of "position", "personal gains" and what is "right".
Position: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. How can we change the power equation? Democracy gives people the power to change the government every five years. Government gets absolute power for five years. Here is my take on better democracy Dynamic Government.
Personal Gains: This is usually money but it could be anything that can lead to money in the future. Again it need not be personal. It could easily go to friends and family. I believe that the concept of money is broken. See Reinventing Money. India badly needs to have Inheritance Tax. In some sense money is equivalent to "position" if the person in "position" is corrupt. Hence absolute money for long duration is equivalent to absolute power and will lead to corruption. See If Money Expired And People Had Choice .
What is Right: This one is hard to crack. Moral is right according to religion. Legal is right according to Law. Rational is right according to reason - but who knows what we are missing and how logical our minds think. Religion and Law are created by mortals only and could be wrong at times. I don't know the answers here but this is the direction I am looking at - On Reality Truth And Levels Of Abstractions and The Idiot Religion
I think corruption is a design issue, design of human interactions, how they help each other to survive together.
Loose definition of corruption would be using your "position" for "personal gains" instead of doing what is "right". The operating word here is "position". How much corrupt can a beggar be? How much corrupt can a government be? Clearly government holds such an important position that it is very likely to be corrupt. It pays to be corrupt government.
How about Lokpal? Does Lokpal holds important position? Yes it does and in some sense it holds a position more powerful than the government itself. Does it pays to be a corrupt Lokpal? Handsomely. Almost as much as a corrupt government. I kind of believe in Murphy's Law as much as I believe in gravity.
Lokpal is as susceptible to corruption as much is government or a government employee. The process of choosing Lokpal is similar to aristocracy. The difference is instead of choosing the government itself we are using it to choose the Lokpal. In some sense what Anna is saying is that Aristocracy is a better form of governance than democracy. Is it?
Solving the corruption problem needs fundamental understanding and play between the concepts of "position", "personal gains" and what is "right".
Position: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. How can we change the power equation? Democracy gives people the power to change the government every five years. Government gets absolute power for five years. Here is my take on better democracy Dynamic Government.
Personal Gains: This is usually money but it could be anything that can lead to money in the future. Again it need not be personal. It could easily go to friends and family. I believe that the concept of money is broken. See Reinventing Money. India badly needs to have Inheritance Tax. In some sense money is equivalent to "position" if the person in "position" is corrupt. Hence absolute money for long duration is equivalent to absolute power and will lead to corruption. See If Money Expired And People Had Choice .
What is Right: This one is hard to crack. Moral is right according to religion. Legal is right according to Law. Rational is right according to reason - but who knows what we are missing and how logical our minds think. Religion and Law are created by mortals only and could be wrong at times. I don't know the answers here but this is the direction I am looking at - On Reality Truth And Levels Of Abstractions and The Idiot Religion
I think corruption is a design issue, design of human interactions, how they help each other to survive together.
interesting stuff from hongkong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Commission_Against_Corruption_(Hong_Kong)
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