"A few principles for thinking about corruption" - from Slashdot!

[DBoon]

This stands apart from the usual dreck as something noteworthy - the topic was NSA spying via data mining:

Principles for thinking about U.S. government corruption:

1. Don't think you know the names of all the U.S. government secret agencies.
   
   
2. Those who want corruption often have a sense of entitlement that is stronger than any other drive. They cannot be understood using normal considerations of morality. They are amoral.
   
   
3. Those who want corruption often are willing to waste a billion dollars of taxpayer money to steal one million.
   
   
4. Adversarial behavior feeds on itself. People who get started being adversarial toward the legitimate interests of other people find it difficult to stop.
   
   
5. If you see one cockroach, realize that there must be 50 others. If you see one verified example of corruption, you are almost certainly seeing only a small percentage of the total.
   
   
6. Your ability to perceive government corruption is limited by your willingness to consider conflict in other areas of your life. Strong people don't avoid awareness of conflict. Strong people work to resolve conflict, they don't avoid it.
   
   
7. There are two kinds of oil business. 1) There are business people who find, pump, refine, and deliver oil. 2) There are people who manipulate the government and government purchases to make a profit.
   
   
8. The weapons business is favored by corrupters because it is largely secret. There are numerous hidden opportunities to make deals that make profits easy.
   
   
9. A government that takes any action in secrecy is a government that is thereby avoiding democratic oversight. Whoever causes government acts in secret is, in that way, a dictator.
   
   
10. The U.S. government corruption is part of a general social breakdown. Don't look for the corruption to be more logical than you would expect of any catastrophic breakdown. If you are having difficulty applying normal logic, try applying the logic of catastrophe.
    
    
11. Many people who call themselves religious fundamentalists are in actuality suffering from obsessive thinking. They think they are superior, but they are mentally ill. There are Christians and Muslims and Jews who fit this explanation.
    
    
12. Skillful abusers like Karl Rove use many small abuses rather than a few large ones to accomplish their goals. They know is is more difficult to analyze many small abuses. (Karl Rove's nickname is "Bush's Brain"; see the book by that title.)
    
    
13. Corrupters often give sensible-sounding names to their efforts to corrupt. Examples: Clear Skies Initiative: A program to gut the Clean Air Act and substitute weaker anti-pollution regulations. Economic Stimulus: Massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich that failed, in theory and practice, to stimulate. Energy Security: The barely lessened dependence on Mideast oil to be achieved by drilling in U.S. national parks and wilderness preserves.
    
    
14. Corrupters starve government departments of money, so the government cannot do its work. They have done this to the Patent Office, the SEC, and the IRS, for example.
    
    
15. Don't say "we". If you are a U.S. citizen, when you talk about the activities of the U.S. government, don't say "we". You are only paying. You have no control, and you aren't even allowed to know the truth. So, the word "we" does not apply.
    
    
16. Much of the nature of government corruption is due to accident or ignorant tinkering. Sometimes an opportunity for corruption arises because of circumstances, without planning, and the corrupters merely take advantage of it. Don't expect to find a careful criminal logic behind every corrupt act.
    
    
17. Omission is as important a tool of corruption as commission. After 9/11, the U.S. government reacted intensely and quite adequately to the problems in New York City. On the other hand, many rich people would benefit if the blacks in New Orleans were eliminated from areas near the center of the city, so somehow no one knew what to do.
    
    
18. Karl Rove and others use polling to determine what corruption and how much corruption people will accept. Corrupters look for weaknesses and use any they find.
    
    
19. The words "liberal" or "conservative" generally refer to illogical thinking. Those words are used in so many ways that they have no logical meaning. Sometimes "conservative" means someone who wants to corrupt the government, but is pretending he or she is motivated by philosophy. People who call themselves conservatives often do not, in fact, favor less government spending .
    
    
20. Most people don't read books. People are very busy in the U.S., and only 2% read non-fiction about subjects other than their work. So, although there is plenty of information available about U.S. government corruption, most people don't know that. Those who corrupt government don't care much what book authors say because it is possible to continue in power without 2% of the voters. (The 2% statistic is from an old study. However, it fits with my recent independent experience.)
    
    
    
    There are others, but that's enough for now.
    

See : http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=178557&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=14803715

I'm amazed something this politically insightful made it to Slashdot.

If anyone has Slashdot mod points, you really should mod this post up

[JDPriestly]

1. This is an excellent analysis.

And it is new. I recommended it for the greatest page. I hope it makes the front page of DU. I suspect that many people do not realize that there is more to DU than just the front page.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. OMFG! k/r/bookmarked!

[nuxvomica]

3. Even #3 alone is worth recommendation

The inability to grasp that fact is often a bar to some people's awareness of corruption. Great post!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. K & R eom

[Karenina]

5. And another

:kick:

[EstimatedProphet]

6. Here's an important one that was left out

Corruption doesn't occur as one all-encompassing plan. Don't assume that because the corruptors have one plan in line, that that is the extent of what they are trying to do. For example, they fully intend to back up rigged voting machines with a media that tells everyone that their candidate is popular, just in case. They never put all their eggs in one basket.

[IronLionZion]

7. Taxpayers for Commen Sense

www.taxpayer.net bookmark it and firmly advocate spending cuts on illogical worthless boondoggles while not being discouraged by the fact that nobody in government gives a shit what you think.

Coal for liquid fuel subsidies is a major reason why the corrupt oil companies are making out like pirates. Why are we spending billions just to maintain our massive nuclear arsenal? Corruption is the answer.

Also check out the DFC in my sig. Libertarians are around 20% of the Dem party. If you go by pork, Russ Feingold is a very responsible Senator but Robert Byrd is a very corrupt old bastard. The pun is that Russ won't touch pork on his dinner plate or in government spending.

I'm part of the rare 2% that read nonfiction books. That's a shameful statistic.

[LisaLynne]

8. #6 is very interesting ...

"Your ability to perceive government corruption is limited by your willingness to consider conflict in other areas of your life. Strong people don't avoid awareness of conflict. Strong people work to resolve conflict, they don't avoid it."

I think that's a big difference between cons and progressives. I think progressives tend to be the stronger people because we're able to look at things the way they really are, no matter how painful or frustrating. We dare to see the truth, while I think the "other side" tend to be weaker individuals who just want to pretend everything is great and will react violently if someone tries to make them see the truth because they aren't strong enough to deal with it.