The Path to Corruption: What is it through a learning example?

The difference between corruption and a mistake is that one seeks to create gain that is not an inherent benefit of their position. When friends, associates, etc. benefit from behaviors that are immoral and illegal we have a potential corrupt situation. It is important in our society to stamp out corruption and ensure it is not protected. Where we can't do that we have to be concerned about our fortitude.

Let me give you a hypothetical example for learning purposes only. 

A group of bullies that included a number of corrupted officials engaged in wholesale cleansing of a family because someone within their group wanted something and spread a hate narrative utilizing preexisting racial and religious beliefs (They even told the person they were targeting them for their religion while a number of officials watched. They were confused but not necessarily corrupted. Others were corrupted and followed up with a mopping campaign). Some misused their position to help their friends exploit a situation to ensure they can manipulate a vet and sick elderly to extract as much profit as they could (There is indication they did this before but no objective investigation allowed. Other complaints came true through new evidence even though they were initially squashed leaving the victims unprotected. Officials knew but a code of silence prevented appropriate action.). Hate was one factor and financial gain was the other. The group was engaged in a history of patterned poor behaviors and others came forward and they were quickly retaliated by those who were supposed to be upholding the integrity of our institutions. Following home, threats, attempted assaults, calling the victims crazy, dehumanizing, hiding evidence, blocking employment and much more were well worn tools of the trade. Once they were discovered and people documented, studied, videoed, etc. and voiced their opinions about the these type of behaviors and a whole host of other issues they were swept under the carpet (again, again and again indicating a total system default.). Perpetrators that shared similar racial, religious, political, and extremist views were given a free pass. Victims and those who criticize corruption were put on secretive lists for further retaliation and targeting. Some of these members may be out there still scanning for new victims because corrupt acts were not corrected thereby indicating a lack of respect for moral conscious and the law (i.e. closed clan systems). Human life and other types of people are seen as less worth of justice, less worthy of fair outcomes, and less worthy of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. If your a victim in these systems you have no option but to be quiet, convert to a similar religion as the extremists, or leave the area because the goal is to stick the victims with the bill of others behaviors. It's a local system that one might consider illegal and worthy of revamping. 

Now, we know this can't happen because if it did it would be a major violation of our social contracts and people would rush to correct it (unless there is wider bigotries at play. i.e. second class citizens, human rights, civil rights, etc. ). What we can say is that if this happened once then it can happen again. So anticorruption efforts would do wonders in ensuring that essential justice is restored in an example like this. Where we fail to correct we expect future corrupt acts to become apparent. Different laws for different people is not going to make us a competitive nation no matter what the experts believe. Thus, while these examples are grotesque and bizarre they do highlight the diligence needed to protect a free democracy.

You may want to read Exploring the Path to Corruption

*This is for learning purposes only like a thought experiment to explore some dicey issues through freedom of religion, speech and the Constitution. Take with a grain of salt.