this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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Bingo. This is the issue the "enlightened thinkers" here fail to grasp. There is always going to be some form of power, which can lead to corruption, big or small. You want to deal with it in capitalism? Ban lobbying and donations over X amount, and then enforce it harshly. Not some white collar wrist slapping. That will take a big chunk of it. Insider trading ban on elected officials is the other big step.
While I hear you I think it's also important to note that not all forms of economic organization have been explored. This goes doubly so for governmental systems. It's not hard to argue that certain combinations and ways of organizing this way will inherently be more resistant to curruption than others. Power doesn't inherently currupt, but it does reveal flaws
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say power does corrupt. For almost all of history, any sort of power eventually comes with corruption. Its kinda the human condition. That being said, I do think there are ways of minimizing that corruption and defending against it.
I would recommend looking into Robert Caro's work. He's quite literally the world's leading journalist on curruption and power. His book The Power Broker in particular is a really good exploration of this in the real world . He's famously quoted as arguing that power has no influence on curruption, other than that it simply reveals existing curruption in individuals. In particular his arguments hinge on the idea that when you can finally do anything you want, you do
I guess I'd agree. I'm just quite pessimistic and view that almost all people are quite corrupted and checks and balances of a sort reign it in.