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The unending chase for money, I believe, threatens to steal our democracy itself. I've used the word 'corrupting,' and I want to be very clear about it: I mean by it not the corruption of individuals, but a corruption of a system itself that all of us are forced to participate in against our will.

Corruption is something you face all the time. Avoid it.

Well, the role of money in politics is pretty corrupting right now.

Corruption has reached an unacceptable level. It devours resources that could be devoted to the citizens. It impedes the proper carrying out of market rules and penalizes the honest and capable.

I'm very interested in how corruption works - and it's not necessarily the way one might expect.

Everyone says corruption is everywhere, but for me it seems strange to say that and then not try to put the people guilty of that corruption away.

Unfortunately, corruption is widespread in government agencies and public enterprises. Our political system promotes nepotism and wasting money. This has undermined our legal system and confidence in the functioning of the state. One of the consequences is that many citizens don't pay their taxes.

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

There is an interesting interplay between power corrupting and corruption empowering. The causality does not go one way.

What people fail to appreciate is that the currency of corruption in elective office is, not money, but votes.