ISawArkansas

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We just read this startling information: The underlying causes of corruption are poorly understood.

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. That’s very close to telling others what to do simply by mentioning that we are entitled because we are more important, therefore rules don’t apply to us.

It’s funny because we really might not like it when someone tells us how to behave, yet we believe there are ample excellent reasons for us to influence others.

The common phrase is, “This is for your own good.”

Covid and its shot solution come to mind. The virus was a surprise and so was the vaccine, and our initial reactions were to be very afraid of strangers. Unless there was a basketball game or jazz festival.

The surprises just won’t stop. Are we new to this? Feels we are. Humans have a strong hand in this double standard. We don’t mind being trained but we don’t like being told.

Remember back in the aughts when they blocked off New York City for a U.N. conference when the French couldn’t find a place to park? Cops tried to soothe, but foreign language and all, hand gestures prevailed until the city blocked off parking places for the important.

Corruption is a major factor in impeding economic development, and we don’t even have a grip on parking violations committed by diplomats, of which there are about 1700.

Immunity. Diplomatic immunity. We give that away. It means there is no enticement to be a good parker and no enforcement for being a rude or illegal parker. So, no one has to pay their parking fine, and that means diplomats can park on top of the geese in the fountain pool outside the front door if it suits them.

Those who feel they are entitled and choose to park close to an entrance no matter how inconvenient it is for others, like beat cops, fire and garbage trucks, tourists, handicapped, beginner drivers, etc., get away with it. Those who can park anywhere, anytime, without a warning, a ticket or a finger shake, generally come from countries where corruption is rampant. They can’t stand that the United States has parking laws, so there’s a tendency to ignore them.

It’s conditioning, it’s cultural, and it’s inefficient. Diplomats from wealthy Norway behave well and tend to obey parking rules, but those from Afghanistan do not. So, if we say diplomats can’t park there but we’re not going to enforce it because you’re so important, Scandinavians will say they don’t want to make a fuss and those from firecracker countries will say watch this.

The biggest deterrent to being a parking dolt is public embarrassment, which rarely happens. Shaming would never work in a small Arkansas town where parking is hard to come by, where those who live here think they shouldn’t have to pay and those who are visiting think it should be easier and those who give up and walk are hot and lost.

Corruption is rampant in diplomatic circles and barely existent when there are fewer parking places in a town than there are ways to pay for them, but corruption is also nature’s way of restoring faith in democracy.

And as my grandpa, whose first name really was Park, said, “If you’re late you should’ve left earlier.” Simple.