• arrow74@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    Incredibly bad take incoming:

    I mean I can’t argue with you there

    • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I’d love it if you argued with the other bits though, because I know there is a problem with evenly applied corruption, I just don’t see it.

      • arrow74@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        You think it’s evenly applied, doesn’t mean it is. You take the power from the people and give it to a random official. Better hope they aren’t racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.

        There’s no checks, and knowing people it will not be an evenly applied corruption.

        Plus that $10 fee goes to the city. If your city functions well that benefits everyone rather than a single government official. I’d rather have maintained roads and some libraries than a few wealthy government officials.

        Also if the government doesn’t get their cut or has a shortfall in revenue they just raise taxes/fees. Then you have to pay off the official even more money because it’s a higher fee.

            • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              You really don’t realize that a citizen can’t do anything bureaucracy-related without bureaucrats? Try registering a company entirely by yourself without any involvement of the government, then tell me how it’s working out for you.

                • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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                  2 days ago

                  The question remains the same then, what power do you think you have over a rando in the executive branch. Or perhaps so it’s clearer to you, what power do you think you have over a rando in German bureaucracy who can drag out your affair for months.

                  • arrow74@lemmy.zip
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                    2 days ago

                    99.99% of the bureaucrats you will meet with are on the local level. Most federal programs are administered by states. Suddenly your representation becomes a lot better. Easier to get a city councilman to help you out than a senator I’ll give you that.

                    But you really think it’s a better system to have to deal with a bureaucrat and to have to bribe them on top of it?

                    Honestly you’re sounding a lot like Trump when he began dismantling the federal government.

    • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Actually political researchers tend to note that corruption is pretty much unavoidable even in vaguely ‘democratic’ places like India, and that it indeed helps grease the apparatus where citizens want something done. I don’t have sources on me, but this is something I’ve read time and again.

      Of course, India now has it really bad such that local officials straight up refuse to do their work. But OTOH, perhaps German bureaucracy could benefit from a little greasing.

      Westerners tend to look at things like this from their entrenched perspective and stop at ‘bad thing is bad’, as if their own mechanisms guarantee that everything works simply by the wish of the common man.