Four very different types of corruption, or evilness, or something. So I was thinking about this and really, it is remarkable at
just how different these four are.
Financial Corruption, Aristocratic Corruption, Power Corruption, and Pure Evil.
Let's take a look a these four archetypes and their chief practitioners:
Financial Corruption - DeLay: For instance, here we have the standard (ancient even) style of corruption of a DeLay. And many other repubs in relation to the Abramoff and Scanlon indictments; Ney, Reed, Safavian, etc... These guys may not have started out in government service with the intent of taking bribes and stealing from Indian Tribes (well, Ambramoff seems to have) but they sure were open to it. DeLay
talked about cleaning up corruption like Jim Wright's book deal (it all seems so quaint now). But then the money starts rolling in. And DeLay doesn't just want perks, he wants $100,000 trips to Scotland. And his partners don't just want to steal a few bucks here and there, they want everything the Tribes had. "These mofos are the stupidest idiots in the land for sure." "we need to get some money from those monkeys!!" It's all about the money, and they were so sure of themselves that they were idiots and went ahead with simple blatant Bribery. The entire K Street project is more about getting a piece of the action than about cementing long-term power.
Aristocratic Corruption - Bush: You know, the old "Born on third base, believes he hit a home run" bit. He's a natural leader and you're not important and you do what he says, duh. His cronyism is based on the Rights of Kings to dole out favors as he sees fit. He gets what is his due. He has no need to do anything more than delegate, and when things go wrong, he's not responsible because it was his job to delegate after all, and he did that. No need to follow up. Interestingly, he does recognize some need in this country to have some support from the public, though not much. But that just makes him more mad. And when he gets mad, he gets pissy, Aristocratically pissy.
Power Corruption - Rove: A power broker, pure and simple. Develops, nurtures, exploits, creates Power. Winning elections isn't for the purpose of policy goals, no - it is for power. Power isn't for policy goals either, it is for cementing long-term power. His use of cronyism is part of the cementing of power bit. Attacking opponents, rather than debating ideas, especially attacking their strengths, is never about whether or not you agree with them, it is about destroying them - it is about Winning. And you can only win if your opponent LOSES. And not just in votes, but loses face too. Humilation is a tool of power. But to what end? Aren't you listening? There is no end - power just is.
Pure Evil - Cheney: Here's the thing, this is what got me thinking about this. I mean, we can all understand how "power corrupts" in the bribery scandal sense. Maybe we would be susceptible too, who knows - we don't get the opportunity. Dems do, and they give in too. Maybe not as hugely corrupt as the current repubs, maybe they're embarrassed about it. And we can also understand how an asshole like Bush really believes that power is due him. And Rove sure seemed like he was good at his job of using power to corrupt power to create more power. But what is Cheney's deal? Yes, he's still making money off Halliburton, and his friends are stealing billions (literally) and he has Power. But what is his motivation? Is he really just Evil? It just doesn't seem like it is for the money, or that he feels like it is what he deserves, or even that he's really just trying to create a permanent Repub majority. No, none of those. So why does he do it? Saddam didn't try to kill his daddy. He's not earning the billions from Halliburton these days (Do you think he has a swiss bank account where some of the missing billions in Iraq are being stashed? I don't). He's not going to be running for President. The more I think about it, the only thing I can come up with is a comparison to Bond Villains. They know they are Evil, and they are using their evil for personal satisfaction (the money is always secondary). They don't even question it. Is this really Mr. Dick Cheney? I have no other explanation.