Needed: Internal Self Control

The basic concept of internal control as a tool of the accountancy profession was developed after many business failures during the great depression and finally set out formally in accountancy literature around 1948. Its entire theory rests upon the premise that one out of every two persons is honest and will not fall into temptation. Thus the basic rule of internal control (among many other lesser ones) is that no one person should be in complete charge of a single transaction from its beginning to its end.

Ideally one person initiates or authorizes a transaction and another executes it. More than two persons may be involved in more complex transactions but at a certain point involving too many individuals in the process of approval results in the dilution of control until it becomes a false control and no one is accountable.

Therefore there normally should be no less than two persons, nor more than 3 or 4 involved in transaction processing and approval.

Where am I going with this long lesson in Internal Control 101?

The bottom line is that sound internal control depends upon the innate honesty of at least 51% of the persons…in the case of a government, 51% of its employees…in the case of a nation, 51% of its citizens.

If the culture of a business, a government or a nation is such that at least 51% of the persons in it are not honest, then the entire concept of internal control collapses.

When the theory internal control was developed at the midpoint of the 20th Century this was a fairly safe assumption in many of the “developed” countries of the world. That appears to no longer be the case in any country.

Internal control is really only possible where at least the majority of the persons exercising it are capable of, and in practice exert self control (i.e. are virtuous). Without personal self control, there can be no internal control within an organization.This also was a fairly safe assumption at mid-point of the 20th Century in many of the more developed countries. Likewise, it appears to no longer apply.

Notwithstanding, we still try to implant internal controls in financial management systems and in many other activities. But we hit a stone wall when we assume that 51% of the persons involved are capable of, and practice self control, and thus are honest enough to “blow the whistle” or disapprove the transaction of a person who possesses no such control.

The sad fact is that collusion overrides internal controls every time. Therefore the following conclusions may be drawn:

* Where self control is limited of nonexistent among persons, internal control cannot function.
* Where collusion prevails among a group, internal control fails.

As a result, the weaker the internal/self control, the greater the need for unpleasant, but necessary, external controls in the form of laws, regulations, auditors, investigators, police, justice systems and punishment. The greater the circle of collusion, the greater the need for forceful, even militaristic, external controls.

There is at present a worldwide weakening of internal/self controls…almost a contempt for virtuous living. Therefore we are seeing a weakening of the concepts of popular democracy and an upsurge in authoritarianism…fertilized and fortified by a quite natural eruption of corruption.

Christ taught self control by living a completely self controlled life. His followers, especially St. Paul, taught self control as a fundamental tenet of Christianity. What happened to it?

KLEPTOCRACY RISING

The greatest enemy of Democratic government in the world today is Kleptocratic government.  Kleptocracy is a worldwide phenomena and a worldwide threat to Democracy.  

Today we are witnessing a growing tendency toward abstinence from accountability…the refusal to recognize that one is accountable to any higher authority.  This is the seed of Kleptocracy, planted by the irresponsible – the unaccountable, fertilized by human greed and watered by a flow of untruth, that grows as the roots of corruption reach deeply into the fertile soil of human culture producing the fungus of corruption that rapidly covers all it touches with the invisible slime of unbridled evil. It can stealthily displace any and all political ideology or form of government.

Kleptocracy comes to power neither by force, nor by ballot.  It simply grows like a fungus corrupting more and more persons until it takes control.  Almost everyone then becomes corrupted as corruption becomes a way of life, payoffs become salary supplements, collusion spreads because everybody’s doing it and gradually the entire country, or at least its business and governmental leadership and its public service becomes corrupted.

The great poet Alexander Pope described this process aptly when he said of vice and corruption:

Vice and Corruption

“Seen too oft,

familiar with her face,

          we first endure,

               then pity,

             then embrace.

Kleptocracy is “government by thieves.”  There is nothing new about it.  Kleptocracy may in fact be the world’s oldest form of government.  It simply consists of the institutionalization of one person’s or one elite group’s greed for resources and power in the form of the apparatus of the state.  Most monarchies deteriorated over time into Kleptocracies.  Most great empires were driven by Kleptocracy’s inspiration. 

The plunders taken by conquering armies in times of war and the hated tributes extorted by tax collectors in times of peace…all in the name of government…permeate the pages of the history of our so-called civilization.  Karl Marx saw the Capitalists as the most horrible of Kleptocrats exploiting natural and human resources driven by greed.  But his own disciples did exactly the same…even as they praised his name.

We have seen the domino effect of the people’s disgust with Kleptocracy among the former Soviet states. But the disillusionment expressed by many former communists has not so much been with ideology but with the corruption which discredited the utopian promises and their promisors.

It became apparent to the world in the last decade of the 20^th Century that Kleptocracy had actually displaced Communism in a number of countries.

Beware!…it can displace Democracy just as stealthily.

The big challenge to democratic  governance today is how to protect itself  from Kleptofungus, perhaps now dormant, but still permeating a society which has become accustomed to it.  Often throughout history one Kleptocracy has been overthrown by disgusted citizens only to be replaced by another under another brand name…then by another and another for years.

Kleptofungus is invisible.  It grows anywhere there are human beings. In its early stages it is unnoticed.  At midgrowth it begins to get hold of every possible activity.  In its later stages it reproduces with geometric progression so that it quickly takes complete control before it can be stopped.

The third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson said

“The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is

before they  shall have gotten hold of us.”  

We are now seeing the late stage of the growth of Kleptofungus throughout many countries of the world today – the geometrically progressive stage.  It has already gotten hold of us, especially in the world’s major cities…and in quite a few countries.

Once in control Kleptocratic power tends to become more and more centralized in one person or group which holds the franchise on all forms of corruption.  Lower level concessionaires become the economic slaves of the rulers passing them ever larger amounts of graft which must be financed by squeezing tighter those below.  The  Kleptoconstrictors continually apply more and more pressure until the lowest levels rebel in desperation or are saved by an outside force.

We have much to learn from the real life illustrations of the astounding vitality of Kleptocratic menace which are reported daily in the media.  History is filled with case studies of kleptofungal growth and domination.  We need a scientist who can invent an effective Kleptofungicide!

Sadly, science never seems to solve human problems.  The solution to Kleptofungal growth lies within us.  We can prevent Kleptocracy.  We can control corruption in government.  But we can do this only by changing people…seeing that they accept their duty to be accountable…that they restore honor as a goal in human behavior, integrity as a prerequisite to respect and admiration  and doing our best to decontaminate the culture around us.

Integrity and honorability constitute the real Kleptofungicide

By recognizing the importance of integrity and honorability we cannot eradicate corruption from our planet, but we can control it, prevent much of it, discover most of it and take more effective and immediate measures to punish those responsible for it.

But if we are to win over corruption we must determine to whom we ourselves are accountable. If we are to defeat corruption we must first recognize that we are accountable to our Creator, our family, our nation, other persons and our own selves, then, and only then, we will have the right and duty to insist upon accountability by others.

To accountability we must add integrity, to integrity we must add honesty, to honesty we must add ethical conduct and to ethical conduct we must add credibility through truthfulness and transparency. Then we will merit honor…and we must not let honor fade away.

Integrity and honorability can overcome Kleptocracy’s  corrupt and dishonorable threat to Democracy

Fading Honor…..

Honor…..

Honor is what others think about us. Integrity is what we ourselves think about our own character. Honor is a reflection of what we look like to others. Integrity is what we see when we look at ourselves.

Honor is earned by what we do when others see us and know what we have done. Integrity is defined by what we do where no one can see us or find out what we have done.

The importance of both is defined by our conscience.

“Honor” is an endangered word…a devalued verbal currency. It is seldom used properly, often applied inappropriately, hardly ever deserved, frequently visibly violated, rarely properly applied, recurrently sought by the undeserving, uncommonly found in the prominent, regularly unrecognized in the commoner, inhabitually merited though quite oft used in government, regularly diminished in sports, scarcely visible in society, generally ignored when deserved and often conferred upon those who merit it least.

Yet we tell ourselves that we are proud of our honorableness as a person, as a family, as a country, as a culture, as an ethnic group, as a civilization, as a human being.  Are we?

Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.

– Proverbs 22:1

Do we deserve to be proud of our honor?  Who yet is honorable?  Is there any one noble left on the planet?

At one time it made a difference…presently it may not.

The word noble is already long gone from our vocabulary.  When was the last time you heard anyone described as noble or having done something noble?

The anonymity of the megacity has relegated honor to the garbage heap of history.  Personal invisibility within the mass of humanity has obviated the need to be honorable or even honest.  Who cares what others think?

In parallel honor is being bestowed as a feel good medication.  Students in some schools are now being given maximum grades whether they have learned anything or not and a few really up-to-date schools are now “honoring” scores of valedictorians at graduation ceremonies…just so no one will feel bad.

Thus we see that simultaneously with the diminishing importance of honor its meaning is being diluted into nothingness.

If there ever was on Planet Earth a culture of nobility and honorability, it has now been replaced by a culture of corruption…if ever a culture of integrity existed, it has been superseded by a culture of dishonor.

The cult of corruption has become the credo of civilization in Century 21…and honor, though not yet dead, like the proverbial old soldier of the ballad…is just fading away.

Ballad: Old Soldiers Never Die
—-
There is an old cookhouse, far far away
Where we get pork and beans, three times a day.
Beefsteak we never see, damn-all sugar for our tea
And we are gradually fading away.

Old soldiers never die,
Never die, never die,
Old soldiers never die
They just fade away.

It is said that once upon a time on this relatively tiny sphere of whirling matter where we temporarily are imprisoned by Newton’s Law the inhabitants acted honorably, spoke honorably, dressed honorably, respected laws honorably, treated their parents honorably, raised their children honorably, defended their country honorably, served their government honorably, worshipped their God honorably  and lived their lives honorably.

A myth?  Ancient history? Obsolescent?

Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.

– Sophocles

It is best to live with honor for just a day than with dishonor for many decades

– Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Indian                    Spiritual Leader

A quick look at the English language tells us that honor was, at least in the past, considered very important but it has been greatly devalued like an overvalued currency in a depression.

For example, there are several words in the English language meaning meritorious of being honored, that is deserving to be honored or the quality of being worthy of honor or respect.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus

Honorificabilitudinity

Honorableness

Honorability

Honorable

Honoree

Hon.

The oldest, honorificabilitudinitatibus, the longest word in Shakespeare’s works, used also by Dante, is said to be  9^th longest word in the English language as well as the longest word featuring alternating consonants and vowels. Honorificabilitudinity was apparently a later shortened version. Neither is commonly used today. Honorableness and honorability are seldom used. Honorable or Hon. are only occasionally used to address high officials.

Simultaneously honorees are proliferating into a meaningless herd as everyone must be honored to preserve their self-respect. If everyone becomes an honored honoree, no one is really honored.

These words have become obsolete, meaningless or are fading away.

This leads us to the word honor and to the questions I have for you.

• • • Is honor fading away too?
    • Will it become obsolete?
    • Do we, as individuals, deserve to be honored?
    • Do our parents and families deserve to be honored?
    • Does our country deserve to be honored?
    • Does it make any difference anymore?
    • If honor fades away, what will replace it?

What is an Honorable Man?

• An honorable man is one who deserves honor. He deserves honor because of his character.
• A man whose children look up to him as an example of a great father deserves honor.
• A man whose wife can respect and love him for his integrity, honesty, and faithfulness deserves honor.
• A man whose family and friends respect him for his decency and goodness deserves honor.
• A man who holds the intent to live the best life he can, deserves honor.
• A man who dedicates his life to making the world a better place, deserves honor.
• Honorable men are those whose lives inspire us, enrich our world, and make the planet better by being here.
  • • • • - Jennifer  Jones

“A person is not given integrity.

It results from

the relentless pursuit

of honesty at all times.”

-author unknown

Let’s talk now about the inverted relationship between integrity and corruption that converts honorability to dishonor.  Here are the character equations:

Integrity + Honesty + Accountability + Ethics + Credibility = HONORABILITY

Corruption + Fraud + Bribery + Irresponsibility + Inveracity = DISHONOR

The traditional antonyms of integrity are corruption, disgrace, dishonesty, and dishonor.

Those of honor are blemish, disgrace, dishonor, ill repute, and stigma.

But times are changing.

In today’s modern media shaped, celebrity adoring society it is becoming obvious that it is no longer always a disgrace, blemish or stigma to be corrupt, dishonest or dishonorable.  Notorious contempt for formerly high standards is now often worn as an ornament of pride, rather than a blemish of shame.  And speaking of shame, this is another word that has been outmoded.

Over a century ago the great Cuban patriot Jose Marti, Cuba’s equivalent of Jose Rizal, commenting on the decline of shame said:

Shame must be made fashionable

-Jose Marti, Cuban Patriot

Instead it appears that shame has been repealed.  Those who should suffer shame are now big mouthed heroes who have defied tradition, law and honor and are always “innocent” whether or not proven guilty.

We once had a very colorful governor in my home state of Georgia who visited all the public prisons and asked each inmate, “Are you guilty of what they have accused you of?”  Only two out of hundreds of prisoners said “Yes”.  He went back to his office and immediately pardoned both of them saying “We’ve got two honest men in jail.”

Integrity and honor are no longer such shining and inspiring goals as they once were.  Corruption and dishonor likewise are no longer such evil vices as they were once considered.

Acts and actions formerly considered despicable now are welcomed by the media and give the actor glory by achieving “15 minutes of fame” with little or no risk of disrepute.

It is not only governments that have become more corrupt, it is whole societies.

In the Orwellian “Newspeak” of 2010:

Disgraceful acts are honorable

Corruption is opportunity

We have gradually and unknowingly entered the new age of cultural change…the Age of Aquarius has finally evolved into the Age of Kleptoquerius, perhaps we have actually entered the first Kleptocentury.  Today the pollution of the human character is a far worse danger than environmental contamination or global warming.

Corruption has always been with us.  It has gone through cycles of growth and diminution over the centuries.  Now it is again on the upswing…but the swinging is higher and faster than ever.

Since an intelligence common to us all makes things known to us and formulates them in our minds, honorable actions are ascribed by us to virtue, and dishonorable actions to vice; and only a madman would conclude that these judgments are matters of opinion, and not fixed by nature.

– Marcus Tullius Cicero

21st Century Credibilitism

(Prepared for the Mexican Institute of Internal Auditors 25th Anniversary. Published originally in Spanish)

We live today at a great turning point in world history.  The world of the 20^th Century is gone.  Very little will ever be the same again.

We hear a great deal these days about 21st-century socialism but not very much about 21st-century capitalism.  The former is primarily developing in Latin America along the lines of historical Marxism adapted to the region. The latter is primarily holding forth in China, India and Russia. It is often referred to as state capitalism as the state involves itself in owning and running businesses on the capitalistic scheme. (Note: these are three of the four “BRIC” countries currently being heralded as probable future major world powers).

How will this affect internal auditors? Will 21st-century socialists and capitalists still need auditors? How will auditors’ work be affected by these new systems?

We are presently in the midst of the worst economic and financial collapse since the Great Depression that occurred early in the previous century…now being called the “Great Recession.” While many people think that the current situation will gradually improve as it has in many prior similar circumstances, others believe that there will be continual up-and-down yoyo-like swings in the economies of the countries of the world with a gradual tendency to edge permanently either upward or downward.  Many believe that we will not any time soon, perhaps ever, see the level of prosperity that some nations achieved during the 20^th Century.

We cannot forecast what is going to be happening in the future but one thing for sure the next 25 years will be quite different from the past 25 years both as far as the world economy is concerned and as far as auditors are concerned.

Some things we may reasonably expect in the near future could be:

• Because of the simultaneous jarring shocks, dramatic crises and astonishing technological changes we are experiencing and will continue to experience, it is no longer possible to rely upon past tendencies as a means of forecasting the future, nor to be able to plan usefully more than a short time ahead.
• Because they believe they have been deceived, there will be a massive lack of credibility among citizens, investors and almost everyone in so far as the activities of business and government are concerned.
• Because they are inherently insolvent, most of the world’s governments will be experimenting with many varieties of creative economics and undergoing severe periods of readjustment and austerity accompanied by great social unrest.
• Because of vast demographic shifts and varying population compositions the capability of governments to provide social safety nets for the poor and comfortable retirement for the aging will become virtually impossible.
• Because they have heretofore unrealistically inflated asset and security values, those of the world’s great businesses that survive will be obliged to change many things about the way they do business.
• Because they have failed miserably, the entire mechanisms and structures of all worldwide financial institutions and systems will be overhauled.
• Because of the accelerating worldwide cultural and ethical decline exacerbated by hard economic times, unemployment and severe need, the present upsurge of fraud, crime and corruption in the public and private sectors will continue unabated.
• Because of the vastly increasing volume of flows of information of all kinds exacerbated by the grievous deception of citizens and investors by people in whom they formerly had faith, there will be a very high degree of skepticism regarding the reliability of any and all information published whether it be financial or of any of the nature, especially including that furnished by the media.
• Because of the worldwide loss of confidence in political parties, parliaments and judiciary systems, the current trend toward more authoritarian governance, thus weakening, if not devastating, democratic principles, yet retaining their cosmetic appearance, could morph into a form of government that some have called “dictocracy” whether or not it emerges under the banner of 21st-century socialism or 21st-century capitalism.
• There is no real paragon for guidance over the next 25 years, or  the next five years, or the rest of this century.

What will be the role of the internal or external auditor in this drastically changed world?

There will certainly be a drastic need for someone to try to restore credibility to institutions and the information they produce. This clearly should be the role of an auditor.

One of the few things that will not change during the remainder of Century 21 is the continued growth and sophistication of fraud and corruption.  There will be an even greater need for forensic auditors to continue the role of investigating, obtaining evidence and disclosing cases of fraud and corruption so long as there exist a free press and prosecutorial will.

Many have lost faith in democracy and it is under fervent attack in many countries.  One of the main reasons for this is that democratic practices have been severely tainted and confidence in them undermined by financial scandals, conflicts of interest, criminally tainted money, excesses of financial transactions (collections and expenditures) beyond statutory limits, delinquent and/or fraudulent reporting and internal fraud among political parties and campaign treasuries.

In the industrialized countries political schemers have unrelentlessly developed “legal” means of circumventing any and all legislation intended to clean up political finances.  Here is a thicket that auditors have rarely entered, but one that needs their attention unless we plan to bury democracy once and for all.  Dollarcracy has replaced democracy across Planet Earth and unless some means of auditing and controlling political funding can be put in place, democracy will surely die.  Here is a very controversial and dangerous, but badly needed, role for auditors.

21^st Century Socialism or Capitalism or any other form of governance will inevitably need “21st-Century Credibilitism”…the strengthening of credibility of public and private institutions and information.

Auditors will have to be “credibilitizers”…using their talents and abilities to gather information, assess it and ascertain whether it is valid. This is basically what they have been doing all the time but primarily limited to the area of financial information and the controls over the process of gathering, recording and reporting it.

Auditors will continue to provide assurances regarding the adequacy of financial information and controls.  They have already begun to provide attestation services in other fields and this will necessarily be greatly expanded.  Unfortunately, in an information-oriented society with a historically nurtured culture of exaggeration, manipulation, and outright “spinning” of all kinds of information from balance sheets to television news, there is plenty of room for an information society to be transformed into a misinformation society.

Today we have a flow of verbal, printed and visual information greater than at any time in human history and exponentially increasing.

We are deluged by great volumes of money, statistics, reports, news, documents, books, video recordings and presentations and digital information compressing all of the above into magnetic files that few people can understand if their programs don’t work.  We are responsible for not only administering, but also understanding the flows  and meanings of trillions of monetary units. But no human being can really comprehend a numerical value in the trillions.  And soon we’ll be in the quadrillions.

One trillion seconds is more time than has existed in all recorded history…31,688 years to be exact. No auditor could physically count and verify the authenticity of $1,000,000,000,000.00 in currency:

• A million dollars in tightly bound $1,000 dollars bills would create a stack 4 INCHES or 122 CENTIMETERS high.
• A billion dollars in tightly bound $1,000 dollars bills would create a stack 300 FEET or 92 METERS high.
• A trillion dollars in tightly bound $1,000 dollars bills would create a stack 63 MILES or 101 KILOMETERS high.

How would you like to count that much cash?

Now think about the number of words (or letters) in a 2000 page bill presented to the Congress and, once enacted, sent to the President for his signature. Who would read such a document?

Very soon all human knowledge will be stored, handled and reported digitally. The whole digital information storage system is measured in bits and bytes. Eight bits make a byte. The units of measurements in information storage grow through kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte, to finally the biggest, yottabytes. One yottabyte is equal to four terabytes.  Hard drives storing two terabytes are now available for your home computer at very reasonable prices. One zettabyte equals 1,180,591,620,717,410,000,000 bytes or 9,444,732,965,739,290,000,000 bits.

Now that you have fully and completely failed to understand the digital storage system, the purpose of this exercise has simply been to make it abundantly clear that we are now dealing with volumes of information that the human brain can no longer cope with.  Yet someone, somehow not only has to compile, summarize and report on different combinations and categories of this information but communicate the results clearly to others so that they can be understood.  What a great opportunity to manipulate any kind of information.  What a great opportunity to falsify, spin, distort or simply modify cosmetically to make more pleasant any type of information.

No business CEO or national President likes to receive bad informational or financial news. If authoritarianism grows in the coming years as well may be the case, leaders in business and government will be in positions to see that their subordinates always furnish them good news whether it relates to financial operations and position or the number of prisoners taken and soldiers killed on the battlefield.

One of the key factors in the collapse of the former Soviet Union was the fact that factory managers, in order to report that they had met production quotas, massaged and inflated the figures.  Thus government leaders were fooled into thinking things were better off than they actually were.

A very smart executive in business or government may be greatly concerned that the stockholders investors or the public receive only favorable financial and non-financial news, but will also be greatly concerned to know what the real situation is, so as to be able to take corrective measures when necessary even though they may have to be stealthy.

Now this is the bottom line.  Hopefully democracy will prevail across the planet, but whether a form of government varies from strongly autocratic to purely democratic nature or from 21st-century socialism to 21st-century capitalism, there will always be a need for someone to attest to the credibility of just about everything.

That will be the job of internal auditors and probably external auditors as well during the remainder of the 21st-century… providing credibility either to the entire public at large or to a single powerful leader or group of elites…21^st Century Credibilitism.

DOLLARCRACY TRIUMPS AGAIN OVER DEMOCRACY – Part One: Supreme Court Creates a Third Sex?

Celebrating the start of a new decade, the  Supreme Court of the United States on January 21, 2010 created a new sex, legalized more government corruption and drove another nail into democracy’s already well nailed shut coffin.  Other than that it was a good day and the decade is off to a good start.

Thanks to SCOTUS corporations, creatures of the state, are now equal to men and women, creatures of the Almighty. Despite the fact that we profess to believe that “…all men are created equal…they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..,” corporations, not endowed by their creator states with any unalienable rights, have now acquired the Constitution’s First Amendment Right to Free Speech. Can they forthwith be vested with the other citizen rights under the Bill of Rights?
DOLLARCRACY has been busy driving out DEMOCRACY for many years and now it has yet another triumph.  When votes are taken $$ count, people don’t…any more…at least not much.

2010 Ballot Box

When I went to law school I was taught that a corporation was an organization formed by the state government to act as an “artificial person.”

Under British corporate law, inherited by the United States, a corporation was considered “a collection of many individuals united into one body, under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested, by policy of the law, with the capacity of acting, in several respects, as an individual, particularly of taking and granting property, of contracting obligations, and of suing and being sued, of enjoying privileges and immunities in common, and of exercising a variety of political rights, more or less extensive, according to the design of its institution, or the powers conferred upon it, either at the time of its creation, or at any subsequent period of its existence.”

In the U.S., according to our old friend Wikipedia,

“As juristic persons, corporations have certain rights that attach to natural purposes. The vast majority of them attach to corporations under state law, especially the law of the state in which the company is incorporated – since the corporation’s very existence is predicated on the laws of that state. A few rights also attach by federal constitutional and statutory law, but they are few and far between compared to the rights of natural persons. For example, a corporation has the personal right to bring a lawsuit (as well as the capacity to be sued) and, like a natural person, a corporation can be libeled.

But a corporation has no constitutional right to freely exercise its religion because religious exercise is something that only “natural” persons can do. That is, only human beings, not business entities, have the necessary faculties of belief and spirituality that enable them to possess and exercise religious beliefs.” (Emphasis added)

The Supreme Court in its wisdom has apparently said that business entities…”artificial persons“…have the necessary faculties of belief and wisdom to possess and exercise political beliefs (under the real persons’ First Amendment right of freedom of speech). Does that mean that business entities are now considered real persons…no longer artificial ones?

If business entities have the right to express political opinions under the first amendment to the Constitution, why do they not have the right to exercise religious beliefs under that same amendment?

Applicable to business entities?

Why, in fact, are not all the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights applicable to “artificial persons” if any of them are? Are these rights “unalienable”…”endowed by their creator”, the state?

Has the Court in its wisdom created a new sex in addition to male and female with rights equal to theirs?

Why are not corporations granted the right to vote, if they have the right to freedom of speech?  How many votes would they be entitled to cast?

In reality dollarcracy had already replaced democracy across the planet.  The principle of “one man, one vote” had already been replaced by that of “one dollar, one vote…or perhaps ten, fifty, one hundred, a thousand or more depending on the economic capacity of the voting district or country.  What the Court did was make it official.

The wealthiest man in New York City, now serving his third term as mayor, shattered his own records twice by paying out $99 per vote in 2001, spending $112 per vote in 2005 and outlaying $174 per vote in 2009. Well, it was his own money…but it also is dollarcracy at work. Is being able to buy your way into public office democratic?  Surely you jest if so you think.

Most office seekers use other folks’ money, and most other folks want something back for it…hopefully only good governance…but quite often more, much more. For example The Center for Responsive Politics found last June that 19 new US ambassadors along with their spouses and children, had given more than $98,200 to President Obama’s campaign personally, bundled at least $3.4 million for his 2008 presidential run and bundled another $1.4 million for his inauguration. In fairness they mentioned that five career diplomats, with no histories of political contributions were also named to ambassadorships. The Republicans do the same. Nothing is more non-partisan than the time honored policy of rewarding those who contribute the most.

To his credit President Obama received about half his campaign financing from donors who gave less than $1000 according to a recently released Campaign Finance Institute study (see summary below). Due especially to the new factor of internet solicitation and payment of contributions, smaller donations from more diverse donors are thankfully increasing…but there are still plenty of big donors and there will be lots more due to the Supreme Court’s dollarcracy ruling.  According to the Center for Responsive Politics Obama spent $730 million and McCain $333 million for their 2008 campaigns.

That kind of money is not donated by folks out of the goodness of their hearts…and it does not even include the millions donated for the useless and obsolete political party conventions and the equally useless and frivolous inaugural balls and events. Dollarcracy is alive and thriving in the USA in Century 21. Vive la dollar, even though sinking in value faster than the proverbial lead balloon!

Now let’s get more serious and talk about corruption,  Did SCOTUS think about it while cogitating about the rights of  ”artificial persons“? Here’s how it works in political campaigns…and after them.

Pre-election political campaign contributions (including those made to political parties for holding conventions, primaries, publicity, etc.) are made during a period of uncertainty as to outcome for one of two purposes: (1) to support the principles for which the candidate/party stands (if any); and/or (2) to procure the right to future post-elections paybacks in the form of access, favors, privileges, posts or pecuniary gain. Pre-election political campaign contributions within prescribed legal limits (if any) are lawful and, in fact, laudatory in a democracy.

Post-election political campaign contributions only differ from their pre-election counterparts in that they are made at a moment in time when the campaign is over, the election has been decided, the winner has been chosen…a period of certainty as to outcome.   Post-election political campaign contributions are likewise lawful, though not so laudable, usually being made upon the pretext of liquidating pre-election deficits but they also traditionally  include contributions for inaugural balls and events and may likewise cover expenses not lawfully payable from public coffers.

Now how do these monetary encouragements, incentives and inducements differ from unlawful bribes? A bribe is commonly defined as anything, especially money, given or promised to induce a person to do something illegal or wrong. It is not illegal or wrong to run for office, nor to win. Upon achieving public office; however, it is usually quite illegal  to bestow favors, procurements, contracts and many other types of benefits outside the legally prescribed boundaries of conduct.

TRUE OR FALSE QUIZ: Which of the following is a bribe?

1. A contribution in 201X into the campaign coffers of candidate A before the election to induce, after the election, a wrongful act in 201Y?
2. A contribution in 201X into the campaign deficit coverage (or inaugural expense) account of candidate A after the election but before assuming office intended to induce a wrongful act in 201Y.?
3. A contribution in 201Z into the campaign deficit coverage account of candidate A after the election and the assumption of office intended to induce a wrongful act in 201Y.?

RIGHT: ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE BRIBES !

The decisive factor is not the moment of the contribution, but rather its purpose…to induce an unlawful act…and here is democracy’s electoral finance dilemma: Who can foretell the purpose of a contribution in the mind of the contributor?  No one.

Therefore possible illegal contributions must be considered legal due to the absence of the possibility evidence as to illegal intent.  Possible bribes must be considered and non-bribes. There is no other alternative…unless contributions are somehow eliminated from the electoral process. Ipso facto, there is no earthly  hope of clean elections in a democracy where campaigns are financed by donations form the electorate or others.

Either get rid of campaign contributions or DOLLARCRACY WINS = DEMOCRACY LOSES.

GREED

The following is an extract from an article by Paul David Walker that should be read by every US citizen in my opinion:

“Our country was formed as a representative democracy with a balance between the three branches of government to provide a check and balance to protect “We the people.” Our government has deteriorated into constituencies, which drive only for constituent gains. We have traded being a beacon for the world, to groups of people who are selfishly grabbing pieces of an ever-shrinking pie. Each constituency seems to feel that their end justifies the means, resulting in spinning the truth, telling flat-out lies while ignoring impending doom. We still think “greed is good,” while much of the world is repulsed instead of being inspired.

Ignoring Impending Doom

Pleasing its constituents, the Bush administration reduced taxes on the wealthy, borrowed money to fight two wars, deregulated our financial system and watched its constituents grow rich while leading us to the brink of a “global economic meltdown.” The Obama administration found that getting us out of the domestic and international mess created by the Bush administration is going to be more difficult than they thought, but they continue spending money we don’t have to please their constituents. Our government can’t get anything done, while competing economies are growing with decisive actions.

Self-Imposed Trance of Greatness

Our greed has taken us to a point in history that looks familiar to the fall of other large nation states, or empires. To name a few: Rome, Great Britain and the Soviet Union all fell because they overextended their resources, fought too many foreign wars, and alienated themselves from the world with selfish policies. They lived under a self-imposed trance of greatness that they felt would overcome financial issues, internal bickering and greed. “We are the greatest nation on earth” was a theme that echoed throughout the chambers of all these empires long after their greatness had turned into constituency-based greed. This trance blinded them to problems, which are obvious now, but were considered close to treason at critical times when change was necessary. I am even nervous writing the blog, thinking all those who presently support me will see me as “Anti-American.”

Can We Awaken From This Trance Before It Is Too Late?

If we use history as our guide, the answer is clearly no. It seems that most people, companies and nations, have to hit bottom before achieving enlightenment. If we don’t admit that we have hit bottom or are wrong, we cannot change our ways. That is why alcoholics will not recover until they admit they are dependent on alcohol. We as a nation are dependent on greed and have built a system of constituency government that reinforces greed…”

Mega-Malapportionment of the US Congress

The following is a letter I wrote to the editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution as a result of two pro and con articles published on Oct. 12, 2009 titled:   “Should undocumented aliens be counted in the 2010 census?”

See original article at http://www.ajc.com/opinion/pro-con-should-undocumented-161139.html

Dear Mr. Editor:

I believe that I hold an unusual point of view on this issue because:

• I am a documented alien living in Ecuador where I am retired and under its new constitution am counted in the census and can even vote after 5 years’ residence.

• I was principal plaintiff in Wesberry v. Sanders (376 US 1), the landmark Supreme Court decision regarding apportionment of the US Congress that gave a second Congressional seat to the Atlanta area and ordered national apportionment according to the Great Compromise of 1787 embodied in the US Constitution.

• I served as Georgia State Senator from Fulton County during 1963 – 67 (then the 37th District).

• Through marriage at present I have about 12 documented alien relatives in the US.

• I am a CPA and specialist on Governmental Financial Management having dedicated my entire career to that field in the US and Latin America.

In my opinion, the official census count of undocumented aliens should have nothing whatsoever to do with the distribution of Federal funds or the apportionment of Congressional Districts.  They should certainly be counted, but separately from citizens and documented aliens and their numbers should not be used for apportionment or funding purposes unless constitutional and provided for by law.

The US Constitution is unmistakably clear in setting forth how Congressional districts are to be established.  Its provisions were ignored for many, many years until our case was adjudicated in 1964.  The resultant malapportionment deprived the voters of Atlanta and many other metro areas of equal representation under the Constitution. In Georgia this was even worse due to white primaries and “county unit” voting.

We achieved great victories in our state in the 1960′s when these evils were eradicated and the principle of “one man, one vote” was established.  This clearly means, until the Constitution states otherwise: “one citizen, one vote.”

If undocumented aliens are to be counted, then the Constitution should be amended to so state.  That is why our founders provided for the Constitutional amendment process.

If additional funding to the states is needed to provide for undocumented aliens, then the Congress should so specify in appropriations laws.  That is why we have a Congress.

But let me conclude by telling you that the malapportionment situation is even worse than ever.

I and other US private citizens residing temporarily or retired abroad are not to be counted in the 2010 census, thus not provided Congressional representation in the reapportionment process.

These two policies now being executed for the 2010 census:

• counting undocumented aliens within the country, and

• not counting private citizens living abroad

nullify the historic Supreme Court decisions of the 1960′s and result again in a malapportioned Congress as we had before.

It seems that in Congressional malapportionment as in many areas of life, what goes around, comes around.

Political Hatred – Good News?

I and many others have been thinking and writing recently about the growing political hatred being expressed in the US and the world.

Well maybe I have some good news…political hatred has been with us forever.  Maybe it is not really growing after all.

Why do I say this?  I just read the book Triumvirate, The story of the Unlikely Alliance that saved the Constitution and the Nation by Bruce Chadwick. It refreshed and added to my memory about the kind of political hatred that was going around as the United States was been founded.  It was tough.

Not only was  hatred spewed between the loyalists (to Britain) and the breakaway colonists, but once separation began the new Americans themselves fought verbally and in writing just about the same as our politicians do today.

During the period of the ratification by the states of the new constitution, that document, today so revered, was covered with everything from hate to lies to exaggerations.  And so were its supporters and opponents.  The haters on both sides were the heroes of the American Revolution and the men we today call our founding fathers.  No one, not even George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, were exempted from being objects of hatred.  Patrick Henry and George Mason were among the greatest opponents of the constitution. Many opponents said that if ratified civil war would be the result. Many supporters said that if not ratified the same would happen.

It is hard to believe but all the folks we admire today were involved in the same kind of political hatred that we abhor today.

I guess that’s good news in a way.  We aren’t getting any worse.

75

75 September 22, 2009  Today is an unusual day. Today I am 75 years old.  Yesterday I was a spring chicken.  Today I am a cooked goose.

Free at last…at this point I am entitled to say what I think without regard for political or any other kind of correctness, so I will.  I’ve been wrong more often than I’ve been right anyway. Why change?

Confucious said: “At seventy, I could follow the wishes of my heart without doing wrong.” I say: “At seventy-five, I have few wishes left in my heart, and can’t really do wrong like I used to, but if I am grouchy, I sure can make everyone else miserable. I pray daily not to be an old grouch”

Some Observations at 75:

Any man my age should have a dog…I have eight.  That may seem ridiculous but since they are Chihuahuas, all put together they wouldn’t even make one Great Dane…But, I’ve got eight that lick and love me…and eight to love in return.  Love does not come in sizes.

If young married folks knew what they would really need and appreciate by the time they’re my age, there would be no divorces. When you’re 75 the only kind of love that matters to you is the only kind that was really worth having in the first place…mutual caring love.

No matter what you do in life someone will come along behind you and undo it, often on purpose out of jealousy or meanness, but usually just out of plain stupidity. Anyway whatever I did wasn’t nearly as important as I thought it was.

My work was never as important as I thought it was.

My family was always much more important than I thought it was.

Obviously something was wrong with my thinker. How’s yours?

Why are grandchildren considered more valuable than children?  Because by the time you are a grandparent you have been greatly devalued by life’s lessons.

Why do grandchildren love grandparents more? Because grandchildren’s values have not yet been devalued.

When the only two vices you have left that you really enjoy are eating and scratching an itch and the mosquitoes won’t bite you because they don’t like tired blood, you have no choice but to gain weight.

When young folks’ music doesn’t sound so loud you can’t stand it, a hearing exam is unnecessary…go get some hearing aids quickly you’re nearly stone deaf.

When your wife says something that you couldn’t hear and you ask her to repeat it and she says, “What did you say?” Communication is very difficult… unless you both have loved each other so much that you are on the same wavelength.

I have had five great privileges in my life:

• A loving Christ-like father who daily offered his love for his only son (me) especially after my mother passed away when I was seven, thus clearly demonstrating for me God’s own love for His only Son.
• An Angel from the Andes sent by God to be my wife, best friend, companion and caretaker.
• Seven wonderful children and (so far) nine even more wonderful grandchildren.
• A multitude of friends, mentors, teachers, and encouragers along life’s way.
• Citizenship in the United States of America.

That’s all that really matters.

KING Solomon or whoever wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes certainly got this right at its ending:

“Remember your Creator while you are young, before the days of trouble come and the years when you say, “I find no pleasure in them.”

When you get old, the light from the sun, moon, and stars will grow dark; the rain clouds will never seem to go away. At that time your arms will shake and your legs will become weak. Your teeth will fall out so you cannot chew, and your eyes will not see clearly. Your ears will be deaf to the noise in the streets, and you will barely hear the millstone grinding grain. You’ll wake up when a bird starts singing, but you will barely hear singing.

You will fear high places and will be afraid to go for a walk. Your hair will become white like the flowers on an almond tree. You will limp along like a grasshopper when you walk. Your appetite will be gone

Everything is useless! The Teacher says that everything is useless.  The Teacher was very wise and taught the people what he knew. He very carefully thought about, studied, and set in order many wise teachings. The Teacher looked for just the right words to write what is dependable and true.

Words from wise people are like sharp sticks used to guide animals. They are like nails that have been driven in firmly. Altogether they are wise teachings that come from one Shepherd. So be careful, my son, about other teachings. People are always writing books, and too much study will make you tired.

Now, everything has been heard, so I give my final advice:

Honor God and obey his commands, because this is all people must do. God will judge everything, even what is done in secret, the good and the evil.”

Ecclesiastes 12, New Century Version of The Bible

About the Future

I have been thinkng about what’s on the horizon for us after the Great Recession.

We cannot forecast what is going to be happening in the future but one thing for sure the next 25 years will be quite different from the past 25 years both as far as the world economy is concerned and as far as we as individuals are concerned.

Some things we may reasonably expect in the near future could be:

• Because of the simultaneous jarring shocks, dramatic crises and astonishing technological changes we are experiencing and will continue to experience, it is no longer possible to rely upon past tendencies as a means of forecasting the future, nor to be able to plan usefully more than a short time ahead.
• Because they believe they have been deceived, there will be a massive lack of credibility among citizens, investors and almost everyone in so far as the activities of business and government are concerned.
• Because they are inherently insolvent, most of the world’s governments will be experimenting with many varieties of creative economics and undergoing severe periods of readjustment and austerity accompanied by great social unrest.
• Because of vast demographic shifts and varying population compositions the capability of governments to provide social safety nets for the poor and comfortable retirement for the aging will become virtually impossible.
• Because they have heretofore unrealistically inflated asset and security values, those of the world’s great businesses that survive will be obliged to change many things about the way they do business.
• Because they have failed miserably, the entire mechanisms and structures of all worldwide financial institutions and systems will be overhauled.
• Because of the accelerating worldwide cultural and ethical decline exacerbated by hard economic times, unemployment and severe need, the present upsurge of fraud, crime and corruption in the public and private sectors will continue unabated.
• Because of the vastly increasing volume of flows of information of all kinds exacerbated by the grievous deception of citizens and investors by people in whom they formerly had faith, there will be a very high degree of skepticism regarding the reliability of any and all information published whether it be financial or of any of the nature, especially including that furnished by the media.
• Because of the worldwide loss of confidence in political parties, parliaments and judiciary systems, the current trend toward more authoritarian governance, thus weakening, if not devastating, democratic principles, yet retaining their cosmetic appearance, could morph into a form of government that some have called “dictocracy” whether or not it emerges under the banner of 21st-century socialism or 21st-century capitalism.
• There is no real paragon for guidance over the next 25 years, or  the next five years, or the rest of this century.