In the Netherlands it's done via mutual favors, usually in the form of cushy and insanely overpaid jobs for former politicians and civil servants in exchange for favorable laws and government contracts. This happens openly in a way that would be called scandalous corruption in Germany.
In the Netherlands, we call what happens in other countries corruption and think our own shit doesn't smell. And because international corruption stats are usually self-reporting, we maintain the illusion we are squeaky clean. Bullshit.
There are fairly objective rankings of this sort of thing[1] and both The Netherlands and Germany score significantly better than the US.
That we also have corruption does not mean it is as bad as elsewhere and does not mean we don't get to call out blatant examples of it, especially blatant examples of the sort that are easy to get rid of by calling them out.
The issue is, the Netherlands, in it's firm believe that it's so much better than other countries, has created a warped perception of corruption, which makes us look good in those survey based rankings. Because we actually believe our own delusion.
Take for instance the recent German corruption scandal that forced President Wulff to resign. Receiving such favors is business as usual in the Netherlands, and simply doesn't count as corruption. The media don't care either, with the exception of shock-blog GeenStijl. But even when the latter presents cold hard evidence, nine out of ten times the entire establishment including the media just goes "meh".
Doing business in the Netherlands that involves government contracts or regulation usually means having to bribe people in some way.
I'm not saying it's that much worse than in other countries (but it tends to shock our German and Nordic friends), but we definitely don't have the moral right call out American corruption via campaign contributions when the only difference is the way politicians get paid off.
> we definitely don't have the moral right call out American corruption via campaign contributions when the only difference is the way politicians get paid off.
Why not? I'm not a politician. I didn't pass laws for favours. When I can't point at corruption when I see it, just because it also happens closer to me, aren't we just making the problem bigger?
In fact, what you're saying only underlines my point. Different countries are half-blind to the local flavour of corruption. How about we Dutch call out American corruption, and Americans call out ours? I realize nothing's really changing because all we're doing is arguing on the internet, but what in the world could be wrong with that?
Moral high ground, screw that. It's corruption, plain and simple.
In the Netherlands it's done via mutual favors, usually in the form of cushy and insanely overpaid jobs for former politicians and civil servants in exchange for favorable laws and government contracts. This happens openly in a way that would be called scandalous corruption in Germany.
In the Netherlands, we call what happens in other countries corruption and think our own shit doesn't smell. And because international corruption stats are usually self-reporting, we maintain the illusion we are squeaky clean. Bullshit.