Cambodia has a big problem with corruption. Not a few corrupt officials here and there, but a whole society based on the rich and powerful getting away with things that they really shouldn't. Cambodia debuted on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index this year at an appalling 130 out of 159 countries. So as an expat, it's easy to feel rather cynical about Cambodian society and rather smug about the relative fairness and transparency in the good ol' USA.
Or, at least, it was. What's been happening to corruption in the US lately? From halfway around the world, it seems like there's been an explosion of bribery, paybacks, and fraud lately. First there was Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, then the conviction of former Illinois governor George Ryan seemed to indict not just the governor, but the entire state's style of politics. After getting used to the easy availability of fake IDs and other papers in Mexico and Cambodia, I caught a disturbing story on NPR about how easy it is to get fakes in Los Angeles. And this morning I read that current Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher has been indicted as well.
What is going on here? Seems like the land of the free and the home of the brave has been turned in to the land of the free to line your own pockets and the home of the bravely offering bribes and accepting paybacks.
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The knee-jerk liberal in me sez "Republicans in office", but my own dear Byron Dorgan got tribal money because of Abramoff, so I suppose I can't really blame them for it all. Just most.
There was another NPR article today talking about a DoJ website that lets you report corrupt government officials.
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