comment: >
  
  Or just play your society for fools. (Ala US government)
context: That may be tougher to win than Russia >
  
  Why do you think corruption becomes so embedded in societies? >
  
  Human nature. I would also imagine in a country where the bottom end is a pretty miserable existence, preventing yourself from ending up there with little to no consequences. Given your access and power also motivates you. >
  
  Not human nature, but a societal teaching of selfishness and survival of the fittest. If you can teach your society to be compassionate and selfless, then you can break that 'nature'. >
  
  Do you have an example of where that has been true? >
  
  We tend to think of societies as being “individualistic” or “collectivists” but, like all things, it’s not the binary we imagine but more of a sliding scale. Elinor Ostrom won a Nobel Prize in economics for her work studying the economic “sweet spot” between the two extremes. She wrote a book called Governing the Commons you might find interesting. The title is a riff on the title of the infamous “Tragedy of the Commons” article extolling the virtues of private ownership over public resources.
  To answer your question, Asian cultures tend to be more “collectivist”. Many Native American tribes were also culturally more collectivist than the US is today (which isn’t terribly difficult). Kids are also mostly collectivist, by default. Greed is learned. >
  
  All of those groups also had problems with greed.  That is a load of crap. >
  
  Relax, it’s not a slight on you. Notice the words “sliding scale”, “more collectivist” and “mostly”. We can recognize some cultures have less or more or different corruption without being personally offended. >
  
  My buddy grew up in Bosnia. He said you need to pay off cops when they pull you over or they are going to cause a huge problem for you even if you did nothing. Unfortunately in some places, this shit is endemic to their society. I hope Zlalensky has good intentions and I hope he can do something about it. >
  
  Why do you think in countries like Russia, every car has a dashcam?
  Both countries are extremely corrupt. Many countries are, and its a real brake on their development. The path to being g a wealthy nation always starts with rooting out corruption.