How do you stop corruption?

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Stun the warlock.

[StayTuned]

All humans are in one way or the other corruptible. I don't think you can get rid of it.

You can decrease it through transparency, harsh punishments for corruption and well paid jobs so that taking bribes doesn't seem so profitable anymore (especially regarding the police force).

Also, make lobbying straight out illegal - that would help a ton. Lobbying is nothing but legal corruption and bribery.

[Lahis]

Also, make lobbying straight out illegal - that would help a ton. Lobbying is nothing but legal corruption and bribery.

If any such law were ever proposed, you could be sure that the biggest lobbyists would lobby so damn hard to prevent it from passing.

[Pua]

1) A free press

A free press isn't as great as you think. In Britain, for example, the "free press" is almost wholly on the side of corrupt, neoliberal billionaires who aren't interested in telling anyone the news... Because the papers are almost all owned by corrupt, neoliberal billionaires.

2) Give the people the means and the power to quickly and decisively take action

Absolutely. Elections every five years or so don't allow people to take immediate action against crooks. Of course, the countries with the worst problems with corruption are those that don't have a functioning form of democracy. The political system in the US or UK is rigged, for example, but at least we do get a democratic vote of sorts. If you live in China, where corruption is absolutely endemic... Well, that's a different thing.

[Narwal]

You are for Freedom of Press and don't support a person that makes "war" with media that disagrees with them.

You install independent departments that get government funding regardless of who's in power, that put in control mechanisms. Nobody in that department is appointed by politicians either and those that are due to lack of other methods to appoint people are restricted in power and controlled by another independent board of his or her peers.


Basically the complete opposite of how things are done currently in the US.

So then what do you do about the corruption in the heads of these departments who are not elected and thus cannot be forced out because there is no oversight, because elected officials can't be trusted. Look at all of the corruption we've seen with the current government departments, spending money on parties in Vegas for example. A free press only gets you so far. Government agencies enjoy hiding waste through obscurity. Their budgets are so large, and their personnel and reach so expanding, that it's hard to even look through the massive amounts of data. If anything, I feel like the best chance we have against corruption is to maintain a hatred between political parties such that they will expose each other. I think shutting off departments from appointments only adds to the corruption and waste hidden within these departments. Any organization expects the head of their organization to do what they must to increase their budget or revenue. This is true in business, this is true in non-profits, this is true everywhere.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Two things:

1) A free press

2) Give the people the means and the power to quickly and decisively take action

But what if the people are corrupt themselves?

[Lahis]

A free press isn't as great as you think. In Britain, for example, the "free press" is almost wholly on the side of corrupt, neoliberal billionaires who aren't interested in telling anyone the news... Because the papers are almost all owned by corrupt, neoliberal billionaires.

Well then the press really isn't free, but instead of being censored by politicians, they are censored by their owners who don't want to hurt their businesses.

Shitty situation all around. Press needs funding to work, but receiving that funding will always create conflict of interest.

[Toogoodman]

Two things:

1) A free press

2) Give the people the means and the power to quickly and decisively take action

Big issue with this is that the "free press" is one of the most corrupt bodies in this entire equasion. That goes for MSNBc/CNN/Fox News/any other fire brand. Where there is "free press" there is someone pushing an agenda with political capital, money, and power. No matter what you do, capitalism, socialism, communism... the press will always be fucked, only thing that changes is whos running it.

[cuafpr]

get 15-30 people together form a raid and kill the old gold whispering in the peoples ears....

in reality you can't without tearing down the system every so often power and money will corrupt anything in time.

[NicoWolf]

Corruption is a result of impatience; when the outcome you desire is hindered by both condition and time. You cannot stop corruption because it is a part of us. I'd argue you likely can't reduce it much because you cannot make everyone happy in a balanced way. As long as there is someone who feels there is an imbalance, for whatever real or imagined reason, you will always find corruption.

[Powerogue]

Someone telling me they never lied, stole, or cheated is someone I would never trust. Purity doesn't exist in any way, shape, or form in humankind. We can be very good people, just like we can be quite evil as well. But those claiming to be as white as snow are the shadiest of them all.

I recall lying once to watch my sister run for the ice cream truck when I was like 7, stole a pack of gum once by accident because I forgot it was in my pocket, and cheated and was immediately caught on one math exam because you weren't supposed to use a calculator. On the corrupt-o-meter I'm pretty sure that's at least a 99% purity rating.

[McTroll]

I recall lying once to watch my sister run for the ice cream truck when I was like 7, stole a pack of gum once by accident because I forgot it was in my pocket, and cheated and was immediately caught on one math exam because you weren't supposed to use a calculator. On the corrupt-o-meter I'm pretty sure that's at least a 99% purity rating.

Well I won't go for the typical "hurr durr ur rong" we usually hear on these forums when opinions are clashing, but I'll say that from what I personally experienced, I have my doubts about the 99 figure for anyone. Including me.

But I won't say that as if that was factual, but rather my interpretation of what I saw. Which is the only thing I can reliably go by.

[Danner]

How do we reduce corruption?

#1 A watchdog. Someone unaffiliated whose job it is to investigate corruption. Typically - the free press. But also a dedicated and well-funded and most importantly independent branch of the police. Someone not affiliated with politics, only with the law, and who the politicians cannot directly order around. Most of the world could learn a few things here.

#2 Transparency. All public records must be public information. None of the "you are not entitled to see this" bullshit. Russia could learn a few things here. If someone is making a lot of money, there must be a paper trail. Norway goes one step beyond, and makes tax reports public information. If I want to read the tax report of the Norwegian PM, I can. Journalists regularly do. It happens quite a bit that this results in someone being called out for abuse of benefits, or finding that the bureaucrat signing off some permission form happens to be the uncle of the submitter, or suddenly having more money than they could possibly afford.

#3 Culture. You need to want it. Nobody in Greece thinks it is wrong if you brag about evading taxes. Nobody in wall street thinks it is wrong if you have a cayman island account. Nobody in washington thinks it is wrong that politicians get bribes (so-called campaign donations). France, Pakistan and Brazil have a long tradition that any president they elect WILL commit some sort of economic crime. As long as nobody screams out "THIS IS WRONG", then that is the society you get.

The last one is the big elephant in the room, I think. Scream "THIS IS WRONG" louder. And maybe your country too could be Sans-Sharif. (best pun ever)

[Independent voter]

When we get rid of paper money and coins I think that will help with corruption. When there is no currency there will be a transaction for everything.

"Officer Jones, why did 23 motorists give you $50 each? You can see all these transactions in the log."

Also I think the culture is responsible for a lot of corruption. A child sees cops and politicians being corrupt and taking bribes his whole life, when he becomes a cop taking bribes seems like the right thing to do.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Be aware of it WE ARE ALL corrupt, as has been stated. That doesn't mean we can't fight it.

[Pua]

Well then the press really isn't free, but instead of being censored by politicians, they are censored by their owners who don't want to hurt their businesses.

Shitty situation all around. Press needs funding to work, but receiving that funding will always create conflict of interest.

The best means of dealing with this is via regulation. Entities cannot control more than a set percentage of a nation's daily publications, and punishments for inaccurate or misleading stories/editorials should be much harsher.

Again, in Britain, we're stuck by the fact that the government is almost wholly supported by the press. There's no way they're going to regulate it properly. As Professor John Robertson points out, it's especially nefarious to see outlets like the BBC effectively spread falsehoods, because it's a trusted source that people expect better from.

"Thought-control" doesn't work in places like North Korea, because the people know that Kim Jong-Il doesn't really fire lightning from his right hand while riding a flying unicorn. But when the BBC argues that austerity is an economic orthodoxy, people accept it at face value.

The fourth estate, in the UK anyway, has never been in such a despicable position. At least in America, some outlets decided to engage in a bit of introspection post-Trump.

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