Why Worry About A Little Corruption?

Thank goodness the West defeated communism back in the 80's. Had we not, Europe might never have been released from the hideous grip of government corruption.

I am especially fond of this passage:

From the fixing of parking tickets to pillaging big public-housing contracts, it's hard to escape the ultimate conclusion: that graft and political corruption are as close to the heart of Europe's vision of itself as its rosy dreams for the future-the euro, an ever-larger Union, a superpower's role in the world. Certainly, that will be the case in the absence of any public outcry. "As long as the state can deliver," says economist Patrick McCarthy, "a fairly sophisticated electorate takes corruption for granted, assuming that when politicians can steal they will steal." And like the communist bureaucrats who once painted glowing pictures of the Leuna refinery, they will let the poison seep deeply, destructively into their lives.

A "fairly sophisticated electorate"? Complacent, yes, sophisticated - uh, no.