Corruption!

I would like to revisit a topic that really irks me and that Topic is the ubiquitous tendency of Western governments to blame failing or failed capitalistic democracies on corruption. You never hear a failed socialist, Stalinist or Marxist system being explained away by the corrupt nature of its individual leaders, the blame goes to the theoretical constructs themselves….not the people implementing it. The wheat needs to be separated from the chafe to harvest the truth, but the threshing is failing due to capitalist obfuscating its failures via propaganda.

It’s a logical fallacy to assume that corruption always produces economic failures. Indeed political and institutional corruption can and often does, and in fact has throughout history, coexist with economic growth and success. The only time that corruption gets highlighted is when the promise of democratization and capitalism fails to materialize the uplifting of standards of living and economic activity. Thus, given that the model is marketed and sold as superior system that is THE salivation for humanity, when it fails to produce the product proponents seek to maintain its reputation by blaming those who implemented it.

The truth is that the recipe given to Developing nations lacks many of the ingredients used to create the success of Western Capitalistic Democracies. What the West conveniently leaves out the recipe is many key ingredients to it success because the West does not want to admit much of its success is rooted in those ingredients. What ingredients you ask? Well, how about the forceful takeover of others peoples land and labor in order to synergize with Capital. A key ingredient to Western success is that it transferred wealth and energy (labor), by force, from the benefit and ownership of others to the benefit and ownership of Western entities.

Much of the success of the West has been due to seesaw economics. One group of people is lifted up by the means of placing the weight of disenfranchisement upon another group of peoples via exploiting their land, labors and freedom. These ingredients to Western success are known facts; however, the West refuses to link any of their success on these acts, lest they be held accountable. By the way, these actions by the West were corrupt and or amoral, yet it led to the flourishing of these Western societies and economies. So, empirical evidence shows that corruption and amoral politicians and laws are no impediment to growth. Of course, if other nations add these ingredients to given recipe for success, they will immediately, and rightfully, be chastised and brought to the UN Security Council for sanctions or military actions. The West was allowed by power to keep all the proceeds of its nefarious acts, while now denying others the same opportunity.

So you see, all this talk of corruption in places like Africa is simply a red herring to detract attention away from failures of the democratic capitalistic recipes given or forced upon them by the West. This is not to suggest that claims of corruption are not true, but that the corruption is not a primary of significant cause of economic failure and poverty on the continent. All one has to do is to look at the most corrupt government on the continent compared with the least corrupt and there is virtually no difference in the quality of economic and social life of the people.

All this is not to suggest that socialism, communism or other known forms of political/economic theory is any better for the people. What I am saying is that capitalism is a hollow promise as marketed because the success of much of the West has as much to do with exploitation and militarism as it does capitalism. In fact, capitalism, militarism and exploitation are the synergy that has proved to create the best results. The countries that are able to adopt capitalism and achieve elevated standards of living without militarism and egregious exploitation are nations that get a fusion of DIRECT FOREING INVESTMENT dollars from nations who have done this. In other words, Western entities take its blood money and invest it into a foreign nation(s). This money is not loans with compound interest that the receiving nation has to pay back principle and interest, but rather, direct investment. This direct foreign investment is behind much of Asia’s growth.

In conclusion, you can fool some of the people some of the time….but you can’t fool this person none of the time….because history has taught me not to trust.