March 01, 2014

Corruption in a small California town models the world scene better than you'd think

According to a mainstream news outfit, one-third of the cops in King City, CA--including the acting chief--were taken off duty following corruption charges.  The recently retired police chief was also arrested.

Seems the cops were impounding cars owned by people with unpaid tickets, and if the owners couldn't or didn't pay the tickets the cops would either personally take the cars or sell 'em and pocket the proceeds.

Neat scam, eh?

To my personal knowledge King City ain't the only place that happens.

The key enabling factor was that the local towing "service" was owned by...can you guess?...a relative of one of the cops.

Wanna bet the towing service paid a juicy kickback to the chief of police?

Okay, now let's get serious:  You don't live in King City and I don't either.  And while the corruption of two dozen cops there is a big deal to the folks whose cars were sold, on the global scale it doesn't even make the needle twitch.

So why did I mention it?  Because it's a perfect model for how much, MUCH bigger things get corrupted and go south.  Like rogue national governments.

And why should you care about *that*?

Because we're living in one.  Let me explain:

Government corruption--like the cops in King City--happens because the local honchos have found a loophole in the local internal control system--the system of rules or accounting procedures that the locals work under.  Because these rules were almost never designed to find theft or corruption, it's usually pretty easy to find a way around them.

Having a relative who owns the towing service would make it pretty easy.

Once started the corruption is self-perpetuating.  It will only stop if some outside, more-powerful agency *both* learns about it *and* has a vested interest in stopping it.  Got it?

Now follow me here:  When we're talking federal government, what outside agency has more power?  Well the first level is something like an Inspector-General's office.  But as anyone with an IQ over 70 easily realizes, those employees serve at the pleasure of the ruling party, so can be pressured into either ignoring the entire problem, or else returning exactly the finding desired by the president or top party officials.

A second level of power would be voters, who could theoretically vote bad actors out of office.  The problem here is that some elected officials--like Harry Reid--may not have to stand for office for five years.  By then not one voter in a thousand will have any direct recollection of the corrupt acts charged or alleged.

A second problem is low-information voters, who will reliably vote for a member of their party regardless of proof of corruption.  Indeed, the "right kind of corruption"--reappointing known corrupt judges or declining to file charges against popular local thugs, for example--is often a positive thing to local voters.

On the world-size scale the phenomenon noted above explains why someone like Hitler, Napoleon or Stalin can do so much damage:  Because once they overcome the local control system of their respective countries and start being thugs on a national scale, nothing short of world war can stop them.

Now consider a national leader--the head of an entire country.  What happens when his rise to the top has been by skulduggery, knocking his opponents out of competition by nefarious means?
  
In case you weren't sure, I'm talking now about Vladimir Putin, not B. Hussein Obama.

Anyone wanna try to make the case that Putin has NOT overcome all internal control systems in Russia?

Anyone wanna make the case that he *won't* do whatever the hell he wants to do, regardless of propriety or legality?  I mean, Obama violates the Constitution at least once a month and no one has the balls to say boo about it, so can you really imagine Russia's leader is any *more* fastidious about obeying silly little "laws"--whether national or international? 

This can only lead to one conclusion.  It can no more end up at any other outcome than the sun can rise in the west tomorrow.

Putin will take over Ukraine, and Obama will make fundraising speeches for Democrats.

Putin will take over some other distant piece of real estate, and Obama will declare that it's happy hour for Democrats.

Hey, c'mon, you don't really care who owns someplace you never heard of and never intend to go, right?  So there ya go, Sparky.  Putin and his successors can do anything they wish, without opposition from a weakened U.S.

And hey, more power to 'em.  Maybe large, successful Russian expansion is what it'll take for them to defeat Islam.  Cuz heaven knows *we* don't have the stomach for it.  Maybe the Russians do.  So it may all be for the best after all, eh?

Oh, the report on King City is from that right-wing news agency CBS.  And a sincere hat tip to Wretchard at Belmont Club.

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