by liberal japonicus
If I've done this correctly, Ugh's post (long may it wave!) should be above this one. Just thought that you might like to read some non-US political stuff and this is fascinating, at least to me. It also makes complaints about money for speeches or putting people on boards seem like pretty small change.
Currently, the South Korean President, Park Geun-hye, is not having the best of times. The shitstorm that is happening in Korea makes our current political scene the model of thoughtfulness. This take, from ASK A KOREAN! blog, gives the basic details. From the post
In an ordinary case of political corruption, the politician is in it for himself. At most, the politician is doing it for his family, or other rich people who may end up helping him later. Obviously, corruption is bad. But this type of self-interested corruption at least gives some measure of predictability. We all know what self-interest looks like. Even though we would prefer that our politicians are not corrupt, at least we know how corrupt politicians behave.
But not with Park Geun-hye. Her corruption was not self-interested at all. If anything, her corruption was self-sacrificing in favor of Choi Soon-sil. Among the numerous revelations, I personally found this the most pathetic: Park Geun-hye gave Choi a sizable budget to purchase the presidential wardrobe, and Choi embezzled most of it. Instead of purchasing the clothes that befitted a head of state, Choi outfitted Park Geun-hye with crappy clothes that she had her cronies made with subpar material. There is a video of Choi's staff smoking and drinking while eating fried chicken, right next to the suit meant for Park Geun-hye. At one point, one of the staff members handled the suit without even wiping chicken grease from his hands, while breathing smoke onto the clothes. Park Geun-hye would wear this suit on her presidential visit with Xi Jinping. For accessories, Choi gave Park the cheap leather purses and clutches that her gigolo designed. This could not have possibly escaped Park's notice. Even assuming the unlikely possibility Park Geun-hye might not have had the discernment to know firsthand (unlikely because she grew up in the lap of luxury,) the obvious cheapness of Park's clothes and bags even made the news. Yet nothing came of it. Choi Soon-sil dressed Park Geun-hye liked an unwanted doll, and Park, the president of the country, did not care.
Even in her apology, Park Geun-hye showed that she still might be under Choi Soon-sil's hold. What would a self-interested politician would do, if the corruption of one of his cronies was revealed? The politician would sell the crony down the river, denying up and down that he ever knew or interacted with the crony. Such denial would be cowardly and dishonest, but at least it is predictable. But not with Park Geun-hye. She stood in front of the whole country and admitted that Choi Soon-sil fixed her speeches. Instead of cutting ties with her, Park reaffirmed that Choi was an old friend who helped her during difficult times.
This is utterly irrational. Rational people can expect that a corrupt politician may steal money for himself. They can even expect that he may steal for his family. But no one can expect that a corrupt politician would steal money for a daughter of a fucking psychic who claimed to speak with her dead mother. No one, not even the most cynical Korean, expected that the president would refuse to cut ties with Choi Soon-sil, a woman with no discernible talent other than manipulating the president and humiliating her in the process. Koreans may expect that the president would be corrupt, but they never could have expected that the president might be feeble in her mind.
One thing may not be quite right is that everything did not start with Park's daughter getting an admission into Ewha Women's University, but rather an arrest for gambling, according to this WaPo article
Anyway, know that as bad as it may be, it is always worse somewhere else...
Knowing that it is worse somewhere else is cold comfort. "You've got terminal cancer and 6 months to live. But hey, at least it's not plague."
Things could be worse. (And may well get worse.) But that doesn't make them one bit better.
To me, the focus needs to be on how we survive this. With as little damage as possible. Both as individuals and as a nation.
One suggestion: traditionally, the party not in the White House loses seats in Congress in the next midterm election. If you're a Democrat, start right now recruiting the best candidates you can.
Posted by: wj | November 09, 2016 at 02:05 AM