October 5, 2022

Corruption starts with the assumption that if a person could prevail against others it would solve his problems. Prevailing against others is domination. It imposes unwanted effects upon people and prevents them from solving their problems or living their own lives.

Power mongers weigh their success in terms of prevailing. They get that way at a personal level of using power to prevail. Then they stupidly assume that prevailing should be the answer to everything at the social level. But prevailing doesn't work at the social level.

A century ago, prevailing might have appeared to be the ticket to success, as European countries walked over smaller countries. Later, the victims fought back and generally won their freedom. That lesson shows that prevailing never was a realistic formula for success; it was simply a temporary ability to defy weaker countries.

Just as weaker countries eventually got strong enough to fight back, the entire concept of prevailing does not work in a complex society with globalized production. There are no weak victims to exploit in a complex and globalized economy.

For a short while, more impoverished countries will produce cheaper labor; but that result is transitional, as economies tend to equalize. And starting from poverty, there is a willingness to work for less pay. The willingness is not the same thing as prevailing; it is simply short-term circumstances.

Prevailing means imposing. Power mongers acquire the assumption that they can impose with impunity. Their assumption of impunity is based upon the power to prevail. But power mongers are not competent and cannot sustain an ability to prevail. They acquire temporary power by exploiting the social structures which they hijack for power mongering purposes. Being incompetent, which is the reason for mongering power, they can only destroy the sources of exploitation that they rely upon for power.