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jaguar · 06-28-2001, 11:45 PM

Last time i checked the WTO does not allow any outsiders in on its meetings, and does not publish any minutes, that’s as good as closed in my book.

Before anyone points out the bleeding obvious, some organizations do have to have to operate to a degree without public scrutiny, particularly military, police and in some cases, justice systems. A good example of this was the French courts just before the French Revolution, they were so transparent they got little done, most time was spent sorting out inter-personal disputes between members of staff, comments, and answering to various other officials. But at the same time any authority containing elected officials that has any significant power or any jurisdiction must be open, and in my honest opinion any dealings between our elected officials and any business entity.

For this particular dealing i see as our greatest failure of democracy. We continually question countries with corrupt systems, often refusing them aid on such a basis, how bloody hypocritical when the same thing happens LEGALLY inside our own nations. If anyone can prove to me that there is some kind of significant difference between campaign donations from a major company in the millions and for example bribery of customs officials in Vietnam ill is damn surprised, in both cases you’re giving them money, and expecting something in return. Yes, they do expect something in return, you cannot tell me that these companies give this money on either some kind of ideological ground (the only ideology most companies have is the ideology of maximizing their bottom line at the expense of anything (just take a look at the company this thread was about)) or out of the kindness of their hearts.

While we allow such open bribery, we cannot expect unbiased elected officials and are in no position to look down apron other nations because they make such dealings illegal.

P.S: Yes there are differences between bribery of officials and campaign donations but in reality, they are pretty damn small when you think about it.

06-28-2001, 11:45 PM	#25
jaguar whig Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 5,075	Last time i checked the WTO does not allow any outsiders in on its meetings, and does not publish any minutes, that’s as good as closed in my book. Before anyone points out the bleeding obvious, some organizations do have to have to operate to a degree without public scrutiny, particularly military, police and in some cases, justice systems. A good example of this was the French courts just before the French Revolution, they were so transparent they got little done, most time was spent sorting out inter-personal disputes between members of staff, comments, and answering to various other officials. But at the same time any authority containing elected officials that has any significant power or any jurisdiction must be open, and in my honest opinion any dealings between our elected officials and any business entity. For this particular dealing i see as our greatest failure of democracy. We continually question countries with corrupt systems, often refusing them aid on such a basis, how bloody hypocritical when the same thing happens LEGALLY inside our own nations. If anyone can prove to me that there is some kind of significant difference between campaign donations from a major company in the millions and for example bribery of customs officials in Vietnam ill is damn surprised, in both cases you’re giving them money, and expecting something in return. Yes, they do expect something in return, you cannot tell me that these companies give this money on either some kind of ideological ground (the only ideology most companies have is the ideology of maximizing their bottom line at the expense of anything (just take a look at the company this thread was about)) or out of the kindness of their hearts. While we allow such open bribery, we cannot expect unbiased elected officials and are in no position to look down apron other nations because they make such dealings illegal. P.S: Yes there are differences between bribery of officials and campaign donations but in reality, they are pretty damn small when you think about it. Last edited by jaguar; 06-28-2001 at 11:48 PM.