Though it may not have mad much of an impression on the American public's radar screen, corruption has been a major force for change in a couple of elections recently. The most noted of course was Hamas' surprise landslide victory over the incumbent Fatah party in Palestine. No one, including Hamas themselves expected this result. What most ovservers do agree on is that the electoral victory was less a vote for the radical policies of Hamas than a vote against the percieved widepread corruption of Fatah. Another recent example of corruption playing a major role in national elections comes from Canada. There the conservative party won less because the people supported Steven Harper's conservative vision than because of disgust with liberal scandals and disatifaction with economic growth. I see two factors at play here, one more reasonable than the other. The first is anger of the corruption of our elected officials, regardless of where we live in the world. Someone may prove me wrong, but I doubt there is anyone reading this who has not seen examples of elected officials using their position for their own personal gain. The only difference is the scale of their corruption and the extent to which they flaunt it. The other factor is a tendancy of people to hold their government responsible for anything that goes wrong, regardless of wheather the government has any real control over the situation. The same rule of law that discourages governments from overstepping the rights of their citizens also frequently limits the ability of the government to affect or respond to change. Given the recenth precedents overseas, I have to wonder what this portends for the upcoming elections in the US.
