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Corruption in the United States
First off, I came from Mexico. So every so often I hear from people about Mexico’s corruption at all levels. You know, bribe the cops…money under the table to get a project going. The ever so popular grease the wheels. We Americans are very good at seeing this issue in other people’s cultures. Hell, as a historian of Mexico I can even point where it started (deep in the colonial period), and why (the conflict between the Penisulares and the Criollos for simplicity sake) it’s persisted in the place I was born and raised.
However, what we are very bad at is pointing out the corruption in our midst. On Friday, October 25 we had an excellent example of this just outside my window.
First a few facts.
* This happened in the middle of critical fire weather.
* The fire road temporarily blocked gives access to the river for the Fire Department
* Fires have occurred in that river bed in the past…and we have Arundo, an invasive grass that burns hot, all over that river.
* Those fires have been close enough that I considered donning fire clothes while taking photos, or evacuating. (We are reporters, after all, we own fire clothes and cameras)
* If any of us blocked that gate, we…