IF YOU LIVE IN A GLASS HOUSE YOU DON’T THROW STONES
One of the things we have to keep in mind is that there are a lot of differences in the culture and in the way the Afghans do business. They have after all, being at it a lot longer than we have since the silk trade had to go through their country hundreds of years ago. So that the trader passing through pays a bribe…or shall we call it a “toll”? In America we are very good at collecting tolls from travelers…we have Turnpikes and toll booths…it is an established and accepted practice; yet we don’t consider it corruption.
But the main characteristic that differentiates us from the Afghans is that we have a Democracy…or perhaps AN ILLUSION OF A DEMOCRACY. I say this because the reality is that less than 2% of the 
population controls just about everything and any legislation that gets enacted is done to benefit this oligarchy, not the general population. We have tolerated a system of lobbyists greasing the hands of politicians and making obscene contributions to their campaigns in exchange for their loyalty…that loyalty is bought and sold just like Afghans buy and sell their influential tribal leaders. So where is the big difference?
We say we have a representative government of elected officials by the voters…but do we really have that? When you see an election like the one in 2000 when Bush was declared the winner by the Supreme Court, not the general population’s votes…then I think that we have no room to talk or to even send election observers to any country when we can’t carry an honest election in our country ourselves.
PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.welt.de/multimedia/archive/1235917397000/00763/fsl_hamid_karsai_af_763629g.jpg
