I recently spoke to a contemporary in India. She was very disheartened about the endemic corruption in Chennai, where she lives. She complained that at every level of government nothing could be achieved without greasing palms. Everyone, from secretaries to managers, accepted bribes with impunity to do the jobs they were expected to do.
I had to concur because of my own recent experience in a large city in India. I needed a death certificate for a parent. A relative accompanied me to the place. I filled out numerous official forms, as required, turned them in and asked the clerk when I would be able to pick up the certificate. The clerk looked at me stone faced and the relative signaled for me to step aside. Then he told me that unless I bribed the clerk, I probably would return to the United States without the death certificate.
Appalled, I argued with the relative. He curtly asked me to get used to it and to stop being a sanctimonious pseudo-American. He then named me the amount that would get results. I coughed up the amount, got the certificate, and left. Later my relatives justified these bribes as necessary to even the playing field for those who have very little. They predicted the day bribes cease and the underclass has no access to extra money, there would be a social revolution well-off Indians would regret. This perspective of bribery as an anodyne to ease the pain of poverty and a prophylactic against social chaos may be entirely astonishing to Americans, but it has its proponents in many parts of the developing world.
There is a subliminal understanding in Third World countries that it is a waste of time to have a moral standoff with those wanting bribes. In fact, I was lucky. I needed to bribe only one person to be successful in my quest. When one encounters a chain of command of bribery, then money has to change hands several times, the amounts increasing up the ladder, until a license is granted, a permit is given or a certificate is issued. Not everyone is dishonest, of course, but the honest man is lonely.
My friend who deplores corruption in India, said that from her reading of the financial debacle in the United States, corruption is far more spectacular here than anything she has seen in India. She remarked, “They don’t do it in a small way there, do they?” I agreed.
In the United States, I don’t have to bribe anyone to register a will or obtain a copy of a birth certificate or a death certificate. But this happy situation must not be taken for granted. The economy is a disaster. If it weakens further, corruption could seep into unexpected places and become endemic, making life awkward and difficult for honest Americans.
As a society, we are not yet so immune to corruption as to excuse it or rationalize it as my Indian relatives do. But there are faint echoes of this mentality in the vigorous defense of Mayor Sheila Dixon, who faces a criminal indictment, by some of her constituents. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner accomplished victory in his confirmation hearings despite being a tax scofflaw. President Obama called Geithner’s flouting of the Internal Revenue Service an embarrassment. What an understatement from an administration whose screening procedure for nomination to the Cabinet involved filling out pages of prying questions so that only saints would gain admission to their inner sanctum!
Corruption starts with complacency and acceptance, laced with excuses. From the top down it trickles and finds safe nooks in state transportation, health, education and police departments, in city councils and county seats, in bureaus of vital statistics, in the nonprofit sector, in hospitals, charities and churches.
A million eyes are not enough to look out for us. We need one medium to detail, then synthesize, summarize and analyze local political, cultural, legal and criminal events. Television is inadequate for the purpose. On the Internet, local information is fragmented in many different sites. We need newspapers. We need impertinent and nosy reporters to barge into our courts, governor’s mansions and city councils to ask the right questions. We need good writers unafraid to stand up to power. We need liberal, conservative and all sorts of thoughts in between in print in one place so we don’t have to waste time hunting. When we need them most newspapers are dying and we are oblivious.
With the demise of newspapers I predict endemic corruption, of the sort seen in India, would become commoplace in America too and this would have tragic consequences for our democracy and for our economy.
Usha Nellore is a writer living in Bel Air. Reach her at [email protected].
