“Corruption is a cancer that threatens America and the future of the free world.”

Our Proposal:

• Begin an aggressive effort to fight corruption domestically and abroad
• This effort will be based on utilizing modern technologies, and creating global anticorruption alliances

The Goal:

• Through automation and monitoring, make it increasingly difficult to commit acts of corruption
• Strengthen democracy and improve prosperity worldwide

Explanation:

Corruption anywhere is a threat to democracy and prosperity everywhere. When public officials rob taxpayers and rig elections, they perpetuate and exacerbate social ills such as poverty, social instability, and lack of opportunity and progress. Around the world the scourge of corruption is causing a dangerous disillusionment with democracy, greatly weakening people’s faith that it works, and tempting them to “dance with the autocratic devil” in desperate efforts to bring about change. In country after country, this disillusionment grows with every election cycle as newly elected officials engage in the same shenanigans that their corrupt predecessors did: abusing their power in order to enrich themselves and/or bolster their own greedy political ambitions, or otherwise doing little to nothing to stamp out pervasive corruption. Seemingly “nothing ever changes,” and this endless rinse-and-repeat cycle of greed and graft has an incalculable cost, not only in terms of wasted money but above all for imperiling democracies around the globe.

A multinational, coordinated, and rigorous war on corruption needs be launched, and it has to start within our own borders.

Part 1: Corruption in the US

There are many types of corruption, but here we focus on the following three examples in America: 

1: The corrupt alliance of ROPAP’s (Reelection-Obsessed, Power-Addicted Politicians) and Special Interests: America suffers when our politicians’ first duty is to themselves, specifically getting reelected or moving on to a higher office, and who engage in quid pro quo arrangements with special interest groups to achieve that. Make no mistake: our declining prosperity, shrinking middle class, stagnating progress, and ever-weaker democracy are significantly tied to our elected officials in effect working for special interests. Democracy in America will truly start to work only when our politicians put the public good first, and the distorting influence of special interests is minimized if not eliminated.

2: Gerrymandering: Rather than winning elections through an honest discussion of ideas and vision, congressional ROPAP’s and their allies in state legislatures seek to hardwire overwhelming partisan advantage into place through shameless redistricting (further complemented now by increasingly restrictive voting laws and partisan seizure of voting administration in order to realize an unassailable triad of election corruption). Gerrymandering eliminates a true competition of ideas, as well as incentives to act in a civil and inclusive manner, and effectively guarantees the gerrymandered-blessed candidate is a shoo-in, election after election. This “politicians-picking-their-voters” is a brazen sabotage of democracy and devastates our country’s ability to come together to solve problems, realize progress, and enhance prosperity—to the delight of America’s enemies. It’s no wonder China and others consider America a fading power, and a backsliding democracy. 

3: Pentagon waste: Government bureaucracies are notoriously wasteful with taxpayer money, and the Pentagon would surely take the gold medal in this category. Under the guise of “strong on defense,” Congress sends blank checks to the Pentagon every year, and that in combination with a notorious lack of transparency, is it any wonder that a corrupt feeding frenzy of tax dollars is the result? As reported by Reuters, “… the U.S. military has been unable to submit to an audit, flouting federal law and concealing waste and fraud totaling billions of dollars”. Why should we, the US taxpayer, tolerate this? Every tax dollar must be thought of as a precious national resource, and egregiously squandering tax money (i.e. ripping off the taxpayer) should be considered a form of treason. The enormous amount money wasted by the Pentagon could be used for many useful purposes, such as lower taxes, or for projects that would make a positive difference in people’s lives, such as education, infrastructure, or an improved social safety net.

Part 2: Corruption around the world

Corruption abroad is not just “someone else’s problem.” It has serious consequences for our country too, wherever it occurs. As an example, one of the reasons the US has such a large influx of illegal immigrants is because unchecked corruption in their own countries condemns large majorities to ceaseless poverty, horrific violence and crime, and no prospects for improvement. Would not millions of Americans flee to Canada and Mexico if the same situation existed here and those countries were seen as refuge?

Another example: Afghanistan fell to the Taliban as a direct result of massive corruption in the US-supported Afghan government. Because of this corruption, the citizens of Afghanistan ceased believing in their government, and the demoralized Afghan armed forces showed no will to fight for it. The result? After 20 years and thousands of American causalities, our great experiment in nation building failed miserably, wasting trillions of our tax dollars in the process. Instead of having a stable democracy and an strategic partner in that critical part of the world, in Taliban-led Afghanistan we have an enemy that will join the list of countries out to destroy us, while governing their own citizens’ lives (especially those of women and girls) with unimaginable brutality. 

These two simple examples demonstrate that corruption abroad must be considered a serious national security issue. 

Part 3: Proposals for the US

To address the three examples of domestic corruption given above, the Solution Party proposes:

1: Special Interests: Stated simply, one of the main the reasons the ROPAP-special interest alliance exists is because our politicians are addicted to power, and therefore are obsessed with staying in office whatever it takes. Exploiting a person’s addiction is a tried-and-true way to control them, which is why powerful special interests hold such sway over our politicians. The only way to prevent the addiction is to dole out political power in one-time segments, in the same way a responsible doctor would prescribe a highly addictive medication: small doses, spaced apart. The Solution Party thus proposes completely eliminating reelection, and putting a two-year waiting period from the end of a term in public office until one can seek to be elected to another, different office. This is the only way to prevent the out-of-control power fixation, and help ensure our elected officials work for the overall good of the country, instead of being beholden to powerful reelection-supporting special interests.

2: Gerrymandering: Politicians at the state level cannot be trusted to implement redistricting in a fair, non-partisan manner. Time and time again, they have demonstrated that fostering a healthy democracy has zero priority for them, as they ever more flagrantly abuse their power for partisan advantage. The Solution Party thus proposes using a combination of AI and mathematical modeling techniques to implement “anti-gerrymandered” redistricting. This means redistricting in such a way that ensures a healthy and representative cross-section of different groups, be they based on political orientation, ethnic make up, social class, etc. No more politicians choosing their voters. Let apolitical computers draw the redistricting lines.

3: Pentagon: Spending tax dollars with utmost efficiency must be considered our top defense priority. A “War on Waste” thus needs to be started at the Pentagon, and it needs to be conducted with the same urgency of a conventional war. This involves complete accounting reform, bureaucratic reform, and a change in mentality—not only in the Pentagon, but on the part of our elected officials and others as well. No more “send’em blank checks” mentality in Congress. No more spending trillions on unneeded weapons systems and military bases. No more fatally flawed, “too big to fail” projects. No more chumminess between Congress, defense lobbyists, and senior government officials. No more 2-way revolving doors, with executives in the defense industry moving into powerful positions in government, and members of the government moving into important positions within the defense industry.

Part 4: Leading an international “War on Corruption”

Corruption is a worldwide, mortal enemy of America, our democratic allies, and all those who aspire to live in a democratic society. It exists in innumerable varieties, from government officials who profit off of public procurement projects, to crooked heads of state who “secretly” pillage billions of dollars into their own Swiss bank accounts, to petty corruption at the everyday level (police, customs officials, etc), and much, much more. A multinational, warlike effort must be initiated with the ambitious goal of eliminating corruption wherever it exists. Our basic proposal involves simply “automate and monitor” by using increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous technologies, in combination with worldwide networks of citizen groups, NGO’s, and independent government organizations, with the goal of making it much harder for anyone to engage in corrupt activity.

A important place to start could be public tenders (bids), where potential for corruption is especially rife. Too often, public procurement projects are venal businesslike relationships between one or more of the bidding entities, the government officials in charge of administering the bid, and/or politicians. This corruption robs untold amounts of taxpayer money that should be used for the common good, but instead benefits a tiny few—to the terrible detriment of the society as a whole.

A potential general approach to addressing this type of corruption is to remove as much as possible human involvement in the bidding process, and instead use AI and other technologies to automate it, including but not limited to the following: 

1. Independently analyze the bidding conditions to ensure that they are not tweaked to unfairly favor certain bidders
2. Eliminate barriers (often put in place with ulterior motives) to ensure that all qualified bidders can participate, instead of just one or two favored ones
3. Ensure the winner is determined solely by an objective analysis of the various offers. This analysis could look at factors such as price, product quality, and value-added services. 
4. Follow the flow of money by requiring all bidders and key individuals in the procuring entity to agree to close monitoring of monetary transactions. For example, if the winner of a bid at some point sends a mysterious wire transfer to someone who happens to have some type of relationship with a key government official, a red flag would be raised. 

The automation could be supplemented by a worldwide and connected alliance of citizen groups, anticorruption governmental organizations, and NGO’s in order to check the bidding results and ensure that the automation has accurately taken into account the relevant factors throughout the process. 

This combination of “automate and monitor” is to meant to significantly reduce corruption in public procurements by using technology to limit the participants’ ability to inappropriately influence the outcome, and by using multiple independent organizations to monitor closely whatever direct influence they may have.

A second aspect of the war on corruption could be to empower ordinary citizens to easily report it. For example, pre-installed anticorruption mobile apps could allow individuals to quickly and easily report instances of corruption to a worldwide, searchable database. A monthly report could be automatically generated with notable cases highlighted (for example, multiple reports associated with a particular individual) and sent to the relevant anticorruption citizens committees and watchdog units within governments. Government employees who have interaction with the public and are in a position to request or receive bribes—such as law enforcement, inspectors, and others—could be monitored through realtime video and audio recordings. The content of these digital records could be analyzed automatically on the spot to search for suspicious indicators, and flagged for further investigation as necessary.  

The efforts described here could be complemented with a “carrot and stick” aspect: special, and ever more generous, annual bonuses could be given to “suspicion-free” individuals who work in positions that are traditionally associated with potentially corrupt behavior. Conversely, severe penalties for engaging in corrupt activity are obviously needed to make the risk much too great compared to the potential benefit. 

Finally, educational efforts could be also implemented. One idea is to declare an annual worldwide “Anticorruption Day,” on which day students everywhere from primary school on could be taught the basics of what constitutes corrupt behavior, why it is wrong, and how to help prevent it. Fostering awareness of the problem and a culture of zero tolerance from an early age in all people is critical for continual and long-term progress toward a world beyond corruption.  

With democracy worldwide in the balance, and unrealized prosperity plaguing too many countries (including our own), the time has come for a comprehensive war on corruption. Let’s do this.