Corruption Leads to Destruction

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but

by those who watch them without doing anything”
There is an unprecedented awareness now-a-days in every society about the evils of
corruption and corrupt practices. But, before establishing that corruption leads to
destruction, it is imperative to ascertain what exactly corruption is.
Most people’s perception of corruption is lopsided. There is a misconception that
corruption only means financial embezzlement while in actuality, when you come
down to it, corruption refers to any and all forms of dishonesty, deceit, and misuse
of powers that a person is entrusted with. Anything that is acted upon in bad faith is
dishonesty, fraud, and deceit, hence, qualifies as corruption. Be it any duplicity in
financial dealings, or disingenuousness in one’s moral character, it can be
characterized as corruption. Corruption doesn’t just mean some financial
wrongdoing or misappropriation of capital. Everything that is associated with
misuse of authority is corruption.
Corruption is at the root of everything that is wrong with any society because when
double dealing and duplicity are internalized, there is nothing that can stop the
downfall of that society no matter how great its standing among other societies is.
From white collar crimes like money laundering committed through sophisticated
means by people at the highest levels of executive positions to much simpler crimes
such as taking bribes committed by low or mid-level public officials to minor
misdemeanors of moral turpitude, all constitute various manifestations of
corruption. No matter the magnitude of money involved in these practices, any and
all forms of corruption must be dealt with an iron fist both legally and socially.
Now the question is this; what is it that causes a person to stray away from key
human values of honesty and integrity; the answer may lie in the crooked nature of
human mind. When it senses a threat to its well-being it adopts a survivalist
approach. For instance, when poverty is rampant in a society and there is an absence
of social welfare programs, it puts people’s lives at risk. They sense a threat to their
survival and thus, in order to survive, are forced to commit what is considered
illegal and/or immoral in society otherwise. Such as underpaid government
employees taking bribes for bare survival. While this is not justified in any shape or
form, it just provides them a cover for their vile actions. Here comes another factor
responsible for rise of corruption – that of – lack of accountability; in other words, no
rule of law.
Rule of law in terms of every person being equal before law and uniform application
of law on every citizen, is indispensable in any society. Where there is rule of law,
there is peace, prosperity and harmony. Where there is absence of law, there is
crime, felony and corruption. It is the non-application of law that causes high-profile
white-collar criminals to shamelessly launder their ill-gotten wealth and then use
that wealth as bribe to evade the law and enjoy other benefits. These people are not
influenced by poverty. They only have their vile agenda before their eyes; that of
using their wealth to come into power; and remaining in power to protect and
upsurge their wealth. They are the ones who abuse the power that they are entrusted
with. They are the ones who enable and normalize moral corruption in society. They
are the ones who justify their actions using doctrine of necessity. They are the ones
who benefit the most of out a corrupt system. And they are the ones who stand to
lose their credibility within a transparent system.
If we take a look around the world, the most prosperous of nations have rule of law.
And the poorest of nations have absence of law. This is not due to lack of resources;
this is due to a corrupt lot at the very top; that precludes honest people from taking
charge. This disenfranchises much of the population from the system of governance
and they take to violent measures in order to establish their own system based on
radicalism rather than pragmatism and prudence. This way a society that normalizes
corruption can swiftly degenerate into a breeding ground for extremism.
Corruption, as noted, exacerbates immorality in society. When a person thinks
he/she can get away with any wrongdoing, it can be ominous for the whole
community. And when a community fails to take a stand against corruption and
tyranny, it is doomed to be left in a moral vacuum. Just as one of the founding
fathers of the United States, Alexander Hamilton said:
“Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything”
Putting forward another premise, more grievous than corruption, is the justification
of corruption. Sure, poverty does play a role, but it is no justification for low moral
standards of any society. When corruption is justified by any means, it imparts a soft
corner for malpractices. Similarly, when abuse of power is legitimized, rule of law
can never be implemented, resulting in antipathy toward the state, paving the way,
once again, for violence and radicalism. Similarly, when power is concentrated into a
few hands, the result is a widening gap between the rulers and the ruled.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
I concur with the above quote from Late English historian Lord Acton to a large
extent. When anyone is entrusted with power, that person is prone to making errors
in judgment but when those errors degenerate into deliberate actions of exploitation,
with little to no accountability, they materialize into corruption that in turn leads to
destruction.
In this context, a case study of the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires (both
monarchies) should be taken into account when they were corrupted and blindsided
by perceptions of glory, their standing among nations of the world nose-dived. And
a newer state – whose moral standards and ideals were based upon equality, rule of
law and accountability of the corrupt – took them on and defeated them.
Having a look, from a social point of view, at another case study – that of Karbala –
when one man’s greed for power blinded him and he did not stop short of even
killing his political adversary along with male members of his family. This event
proved that if usurping of power is justified, and moral corruption is internalized
even only at the executive level, the morality of a nation goes into decline and
nobody can stop its downfall. An Arabic proverb seems to aptly describe the misuse
of power:
“They asked the Pharaoh:
What made you a tyrant?
He said: No one stopped me”
Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot exist for long. In this case too, the
community failed to take a stand against the vicious ruler and what ensued was
violence, hatred and resentment against the system.
The fight against corruption and the justification of corruption has to be from within
the society. No outside forces can guide a nation in its fight against corruption. Only
indigenous elements can devise a whole-hearted effort towards eradication of
corruption.
“The biggest disease is corruption. The vaccine is transparency”
No nation can reach the height of glory without accountability, rule of law, and
uniform implementation of law. That being said, justifying corruption may evolve
resentment into violence against state. On the other hand, it would deviate the
collective moral compass of a nation, leading to collapse of moral principles in
society which is akin to destruction. Having argued my reasons, I feel at liberty to
note that Corruption Leads to Destruction.

Mohammad Bissam
Department of Electrical Engineering
UET Lahore