Question

Give your reasoned opinion on the state of trust in government in light of continuing problems with corruption. Consider any local corruption problems you are familiar with in your discussion.

Answer 1

According to a survey on the list of things that Americans fear the most, government corruption was on top of the list. This means it is ranked above things like terrorism, identity theft and economic collapse. There is a rise in the spate of incidents of government powers being misused either for satisfying personal needs or for money. Some of the reported examples of government corruption would include:

• Drug Enforcement Agencies receiving money from drug cartels.
• IRS giving promotion to employees who were not paying taxes.
• Cops arresting innocent people on false charges.
• Government credit rating agencies commiting frauds and backing fraudulent companies.

Although there have been several steps taken by the government to curb these corrupt practices by its officials, corruption seems to be thriving in someway or the other. There are several cases of federal officials convicted and charged with corruption. Corruption is a disease that exists in every part of the world. The only difference would be that it varies in intensity from country to country. Since government officials are in move closely with power and money, many get tempted to misuse their position for illegal benefits.

Corruption is a huge barrier to growth of a nation due to the following reasons.

• Public money is diverted to private individuals.
• Inequality in the distribution of income rises.
• Affects human development as tax revenues are not used for the benefit of public.
• Power and wealth in the hands of a few corporations that control the economy.
• Rich get richer and the poor remain poor.

Tax officials, law enforcement agencies, judges, credit rating agencies or officials of any government wing for that matter put national security in terms of economic development as well as social security in jeopardy. But with increasing connectivity among people through social media and instant news on our mobile devices, incidents of corruption can be prevented, controlled and reported immediately. A strict and infallible mechanism to prevent corruption is yet to be discovered and implemented. But on the positive side, boom in technology seems to be a boon for the common citizens.