at any price

[posted this week at InsideWork]

At Any Price
Bribery and the Culture of Politics

As of this writing seven active U.S lawmakers are under investigation, indicted or have pled guilty to conspiracy, securities fraud, tax evasion, campaign funding violations or other illegal acts.

The most recent, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, was an eight-term congressman from southern California who admits taking 2.4 million dollars in bribes from defense contractors while serving on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee and the intelligence committee.

A Washington Post editorial called the conspiracy "brazen," the bribes "breathtaking," the court papers "jaw-dropping."

Scripps Howard News Service called Cunningham's admission "disturbing."

The New York Times quoted United States attorney Carol C. Lam: "He did the worst thing an elected official can do. He enriched himself through his position and violated the trust of those who put him there."

And so it goes... What's missing from most accounts is outrage that business people, seeking unfair advantage, were on the other end of the transaction. This, it seems, is more or less to be expected.

At InsideWork we believe business is a good thing on the face of it, an expression of our kinship with the God who made us and the fellow creatures with whom we are interdependent. When everyone adds value, life is better all around.

We're disheartened to live in a climate that reserves outrage for failed public servants while assuming business people will stop at nothing to gain an advantage. We think business demands better. Commerce, after all, preceded politics in the great scheme of things.

Beltway observers say Washington is gearing up to clean house and patch loopholes (as they seem to do every decade or so for as long as anyone remembers), We think it would be fitting for business people -- who have no authority but wield culture-shaping influence -- to use their leverage in board rooms and golf carts, at conference tables and lunch counters, on airliners and cell phones, to persuade colleagues and competitors of the ancient wisdom:

Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. — Proverbs 16.8

Too idealistic? Call us crazy, but we think not. We're convinced there's enough for everyone if we do this right.