The most important fact about corruption is that it is about the persons themselves, which means it is not about the objective realities that define life and solve problems. Corrupters are self-centered and obsessively so, because their conflict with the universe is a losing battle which absorbs them.

The definition of corruption is that which destroys life. Life is defined by the laws of the universe; and aligning upon those laws requires rationality. Trying to destroy rationality and replace it with arbitrary whim is the primary tactic of corrupters.

Corrupters align upon motives in contempt for realities. Motives represent themselves, while realities represent abstractions related to laws of the universe.

The rationalized assumption is that people are more important than removed realities; and therefore, self-expression should define human existence. Corrupters miss the destructiveness of selfishness and the need for universal realities that benefit everyone equally.

Corrupters try to redefine existence disconnected from the universe, because corruption creates a conflict with the universe. That means a state of existence where no laws or impositions act upon them, so they are free to act out their motives as whims in contradiction to objective realities.

Corrupters hate rationality, because it exposes them as the incompetent corrupters that they are by placing demands upon them and requiring life to be aligned upon the objective realities created by the laws of the universe. Whim aligned upon no stable realities is the state of existence of corrupters.

Corruption became the official state of existence in 1981 with Reaganism, where the purpose was to create "a new normal" including the purposes of getting the government off the backs of conservatives and throwing out laws as so-called deregulation. Corruption as an ethic became the basis for replacing rationality with whim and dismantling government, until fascism prevailed under Trump's authority.
 
The definition of corruption is that which destroys life. Obviously no one can agree on what destroys life. But that argument is irrelevant, because only the methodology is relevant; and it is beyond question.

The methodology for promoting life is rationality. That means connecting human realities to the objective reality created by the universe which defines life. Connecting means making relationships between realities through explanations—the same thing as reason.

When relationships between realities are spelled out, particularly the cause-and-effect relationships, the correct relationships become apparent and are reinforced, and the contradictions become apparent and are diminished. Correct relationships to the objective realities of the universe define truth. Truth is the communicated representation of unified reality.

That means truth increases through the process of producing rationality. Truth is the only force corrupters cannot defeat. On top of that, the process of producing truth through rationality exposes corrupters as being incompetent.

So of course, corrupters hate rationality; and when they encounter it, they assume it is a destructive aberration.

The result is that corrupters divide existence into two groups: enemies who force rationality onto them and like-minded persons who oppose rationality. Everything is framed as a battle of "us vs them."

It's an extremely sanctimonious battle, because corrupters assume the other side is imposing a destructive aberration onto them.

And it's an extremely reductionistic battle, as the absence of rationality replaces ordered existence with imposed whims.

Corrupters view their battle in terms of persons. Persons who impose rationality onto them are viewed as a threat to be defeated. Persons who agree with corrupters are sources of power through numbers. So corrupters form groups which conspire against the rationality that is required for life to be sustained.