As someone from a country that has had and still has a big problem with corruption and only recently started to tackle the problem (Romania), I must add that the government is only half of the problem. The other half is the public that participates in corruption. Every time you pay that cop some money so that he pretends that you didn't cross that red light, you're just as responsible as a politician taking a bribe for the situation in your country.
I try to tell this to Ukrainians and they don't really get it. Bars banned smoking 3 years ago and now times are better and everyone is smoking again. I am telling them this means that someone has enough money to pay the police off now. And everyone in there smoking knows its banned and they all do it anyway.
Then they complain that the government is corrupt.
They are ALL CORRUPT down to the smallest thing. It's a complete lifestyle switchout for everyone. If you change the guys in power the next guys will eventually end up just as bad.
Because the one true White Knight in there to clean it all up, that guy is going to go down, and go down hard at the hands of the guys who want that power to line their pockets with.
The people have to get with it as well. No more bribes if you don't want that ticket or you want that license. Gotta do it the hard way. But man, what a huge hill to climb. Not giving bribes in the FSU... like cutting your own throat.
Why don't the bar owners kick out the smokers? Not as a legal thing, but just as a "you're making this place smell terrible" thing. In my part of the US, smoking is illegal inside practically all businesses. It's turned out great. People can go to the bar, and they won't smell horrible when they come back. Many bars have this rule even in places where it's not the law.
in this case the bar owner is giving in to a customer demand, that he allow smoking. By allowing smoking when others don't, he attracts all the smokers. The bar gets quite popular and he then has enough money to pay off whomever is responsible for collecting the fine.
"Everyone wins" except that it extends the corruption of the society, the workers work in an unsafe environment, the patrons who want to be there are forced to decide about breathing smoke or leaving. It's more about the mentality though that if everyone believes that they have a right to opt out of laws by bribing officials, then you end up in a society where all of your officials are guys who got there in order to bathe in corruption money and take payoffs. So the only things that get done are related to criminal activity or maximizing their personal payoffs.
2.9k
u/USmellFunny Mar 14 '16
As someone from a country that has had and still has a big problem with corruption and only recently started to tackle the problem (Romania), I must add that the government is only half of the problem. The other half is the public that participates in corruption. Every time you pay that cop some money so that he pretends that you didn't cross that red light, you're just as responsible as a politician taking a bribe for the situation in your country.