I would like to share a theme about America: why America is not as corrupt as we are.
I traveled to the U.S. as a political observer during Obama's second term, and Tencent funded me to observe the situation around the U.S., which gave me a lot of insight.
During my time in the United States, I was once invited by *** radio to participate in a program debate. They arranged for a few people to debate a topic with me, and the moderator was clearly on their side, which was a pre-programmed ambush. Although the debate was rife with vicious rumors about China, I found some of the staff to be very friendly.
For example, Gong Xiaoxia, the director of the Chinese department of **, who has a Ph.D. from Harvard University, used to share the pen name Li Xizhe with Mr. Wang Xizhe, which was famous in the late Chinese Cultural Revolution. Gong Xiaoxia tried to give me **, took me to visit the US Congress, emphasized the openness of Congress, and pointed out that the office of the congressman can come and go at will without any documents.
This experience gave me a deep understanding of some of the characteristics of the United States, and it also made me think about why the United States is not as corrupt as we are.
I was a little hesitant at first, but eventually I mustered up the courage to knock on the door and enter. The councillor's aides stood up to greet us, and then introduced the councillor's state and the products produced in the state, and warmly invited me to taste it. This courteous attitude continued with our visits to several parliamentarians' offices. Each councillor and their team showed the same humility and courtesy.
When I returned, I wrote an article in which I mentioned that the system of receiving visitors by U.S. lawmakers is worth learning from, and that there are some lessons to be learned from the U.S. democratic system. While I understand that some people may take things out of context and think I'm praising American democracy, what I'm actually trying to make is something else.
I was honored to be invited to dinner with Gong Xiaoxia in the United States. In the United States, common Chinese restaurant dishes taste mostly similar because they mostly use the same cooking sauces. After eating, Gong Xiaoxia asked for an invoice. I asked her a little curiously why she was asking for an invoice, and she explained, "I invited you to dinner, and if you don't have an invoice, someone might report me, and that's trouble." ”
I was deeply impressed by this experience in the United States. On the one hand, the offices of members of the US Congress are open to visitors and do not require special documents to enter. On the other hand, civil servants in the United States are honest and rigorous. I can't help but think about how hard the United States is in cracking down on corruption, even in the face of small things, which is really admirable.
Recently, I read an article by Li Xinye, a Chinese living in the United States, and he was also impressed by the integrity system in the United States. In the United States, we strictly abide by the principle of integrity, and there will be no blatant corruption. If anyone dares to violate the principle of integrity, they will face serious legal consequences. Just like Gong Xiaoxia's insistence on invoices when she invited me to dinner, this attitude is prevalent in American society. Mr. Li Xinye, who has lived in the United States for a long time, has had a complete change in his understanding of corruption in the country.
At first, he was deeply impressed by the integrity of American civil servants, believing that there is no Chinese-style phenomenon of "eating and taking cards" in the United States, and that the work of institutions, hospitals, schools, and other units is strictly standardized, and the law is fully respected and enforced. Over time, however, he gradually came into contact with all levels of American society and discovered its mechanisms of corruption that differed from those of China. Corruption in the United States is not a direct bribe, but a systematic and pervasive power-for-money transaction.
Although direct bribery has been severely cracked down on in the United States, people who know the way can use various legal channels to "legal bribery", which is far more hidden than direct bribery. Campaign donations are just one of the superficial ways, but in reality, they don't go directly to **'s private account. Therefore, although the United States has cracked down on direct corruption, the United States still has a serious corruption problem in terms of the nature of power-for-money transactions.
Former Trump was involved in a scandal in which he used campaign funds to pay hush money to an actress who had starred in, according to the United States. The incident led to the jail sentence of Trump's personal lawyer, McCohen. This kind of behavior is simply the most blatant bribery. Trump hadn't thought about becoming a ** before, so he didn't think about it seriously.
In the United States, one of the most common forms of bribery is to invite ** to give a speech. For example, if you want to bribe someone, you can invite them to speak at your company and legally pay a hefty appearance fee. Under U.S. law, appearance fees are legal income.
For example, between 2013 and 2014, Clinton gave speeches at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank, with an appearance fee of up to 22 per speech$50,000, 3 hours of talking, a total of 67$50,000.
This makes it very easy to make a profit. If you want to convey benefits, you can invite relevant people to give speeches. Recently, Republican Nikki Haley also paid more than $200,000 per speech after leaving the company.