Comments on "Words of Magnificence" by Andrew!: The Buck Doesn't Stop Here!

Hoo-Whee! That's a doozy of a question!Well sir, f...

2008-05-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hoo-Whee! That's a doozy of a question!

Well sir, for the time being, I think that the only effective cleanups in this country are those such as our beach cleanup. I say this because it has a greater effect on the mentality of the participants and the observers than it could ever have on the beach and the environment. And in all reality, the change of mentality for Bulgarians is the only thing that will save them from this peril.

(1) A cleanup by outside power happened when communism fell. No positive result. (2) A cleanup by inside 'power' exists in the form of a television show that exposes corrupt officials. This is sort of a reality TV show that directly identifies who's involved and how. No result. There's no recourse because judges are paid off to acquit everything. (3) A marketing cleanup 'exists' in the form of a campaign to bring back the Bulgarians who have left the country in search of opportunity. They're promised incentives, which aren't met.

I wish one of these three things would be powerful enough to right what's wrong in this ailing nation. But even with all three things combined, Bulgarians are fighting a tough, tough uphill battle.

From some people I've spoken with, it seems that Bulgarians are waiting for something of a messiah to lead them from their woes. Unfortunate. And again we're back to "the buck not stopping."

In my opinion, the single greatest thing that could have the best chance of success is a change of mentality. But the methods for such an accomplishment, on the scale that's needed, are extremely complex. My hippie ideals tell me that grassroots efforts such as beach cleanups will act like an infection and spread throughout the country. But seeing a result from something like this will take years.

When facing entrenched corruption, there are usual...

2008-05-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

When facing entrenched corruption, there are usually only three real alternatives: (1) clean-up by an outside power (e.g. FBI busting Congressman for bribery); (2) clean-up by internal forces (e.g. reformers or organized resistance by those oppressed by corruption); or (3) clean-up by the market (making corruption unprofitable so the criminals move to different endeavours).

Of these, it seems like (1) is impossible when corruption is endemic at every national level, unless the international community comes in and forces change, which will probably be resisted for nationalist reasons and in any event will probably be superficial. The problem with (2) is that typically the type of support organization that would be effective to fight such entrenched and organized corruption is, itself, basically a form of government. The organizational channels have already thus been subverted. From what you've said, cultural expectations about government's role make (3) difficult as well -- Bulgarians expect the government to be large and intrusive.

Which of these, or which alternative methods, do you see as having the best chance of success? Personally, I favour method #3. To paraphrase Frederic Bastiat, when the government's function is confined only to protecting liberty, rather than controlling or distributing great wealth, there will be no great profit to lure corrupt individuals to try to control it.

Ha Ha! Koubi!!! C'mon! That was a reference to lyr...

2008-05-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Ha Ha! Koubi!!! C'mon! That was a reference to lyric from an MxPx song.

did the Kmet really say that? That seems pretty e...

2008-05-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

did the Kmet really say that? That seems pretty extreme, even for there. I miss you, A!

K!