The past few weeks of scandals, resignations and exposures of misconduct in local government have been a hell of a ride for public trust.
From the embezzlement of CARES law funds through bribes by city building inspectors to the resignation of Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard after criticizing her leadership, it is fair to say that a government collapse is underway in Hawaii .
But as much as I hate being the bearer of bad news, what we are experiencing is only a fraction of the actual dysfunction that is rampant on our islands. Leave aside the flowery, plumeria-scented talk about “Pono” governance and the guided tour with “Aloha”. Hawaii is rotten to the core and there is a toxic, nefarious culture of corruption that must be addressed before our entire system implodes on itself.
Everyone sees it, but nobody pays attention
For example, when it is discovered that the Honolulu building inspectors acted unethically, the public often turns pale with disgust and asks, “How did this happen?” I always shake my head and say, “These are the ones who got caught; What you should really worry about are the ones you don’t know about. “
The first main reason corruption is an entrenched problem in the islands is that we have developed a habit where everyone sees what is wrong but no one seems to pay attention. Bad things happen and bad things escalate and no one seems to care or do anything about it until it turns into a crisis that suddenly brings things to a standstill and makes us ask stupid questions like, “Who could have foreseen that could that happen? ”
Almost everyone who engages in bad behavior here is empowered by someone who sees and knows they are doing something wrong but chooses not to do anything about it.
Our local government has laws and mandatory anti-corruption training for civil servants, but this becomes completely useless as people who do bad things can get away with it from people who are aware of their actions.
This goes far beyond simple enforcement, in which people are not investigated or the courts do not punish harshly enough. You cannot “train” people to obey the law when there are institutional values that do not exclude people who lie, cheat, or steal or force them to change their behavior.
Income inequality creates a corrupting system
The other thing I don’t like to tell the locals about is that Hawaii’s bad economy leads to a corrupting system. What do i mean by that?
When I was studying at the University of Texas at San Antonio in the 1990s, my mentor was a Libyan defector who fled west by stealing an airplane and flying it to southern Europe at low altitude under the air defense radar floor.
He explained to me that Libya was a “corrupting system” under Muammar Gaddafi. Everyone became corrupt in Libya because the government controlled everything that required favors / preferred exemptions and because everyone was so poor.
In Hawaii, this is exactly the crisis we are facing. Because of the high cost of living and the time or effort actually required to get through the “make ends meet” phase of prosperity, any means will end up in situations where they can be exposed to incredible temptation Money to come – even if it means breaking the law.
If you look at less developed countries, often everyone from the immigration authorities at the airport to the prime minister is corrupt. When an economy is unstable, people desperate for money or power will do anything to get out of the crab tub.
In fact, the people most at risk of corruption are not immoral people, but “good” people who think that if they compromise, they can help their friends, family, or even their community. As Hawaii’s economy deteriorates, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the temptation can be too great for many of our supposedly “best and brightest” people.
Go forward
We have to admit that Hawaii has serious problems and that our government and society are headed in the wrong direction.
US secret services often warn of “MICE” (Money, Ideology, Coercion, Ego) as vectors for Subversion and of “RASCLS” (Reciprocation, Authority, Scarcity, Commitment, Consistency, Like, Scarcity). Hawaii needs to watch out for these vectors in our own government.
First, we need to start weeding out people who display corrupt or unethical behavior. This applies to both professional civil servants and elected public officials. There are far too many “thirsty” people willing to do anything to get whatever they want in our government, and we need a new palladium of disciplined, moral, selfless people who always do the right thing.
Second, we need to stop empowering narcissists, bullies, sexual deviants, scammers, and thieves around us. If you see someone doing something wrong, reprimand them harshly and report them early on so that they can stop the habit of doing these things.
Last but not least, we need to work for a better economy. If Hawaii is fair and works for everyone, there will be less temptation to compromise or seek fraudulent wealth.
Let’s do Hawaii Pono again.
