Integrity and Honor, Corruption and Dishonor

INTEGRITY AND HONOR, CORRUPTION AND DISHONOR
James P. Wesberry, Jr.
Where corruption flourishes,
honor perishes
When dishonor is admired,
integrity
has
expired
Graduate School
Lecture Series on
Accountability and Governance
Manila, Philippines - August 18, 2010
1

Magandanghapon
Preface
The definition of
Wisdom
2

INTEGRITY AND HONOR, CORRUPTIONAND DISHONOR
Faith in God
is the
definition of
Wisdom
Jim Wesberry
University of the East
Manila, August 18, 2010
3

Integrity is telling myself
the truth and
Honestyis telling
the truth
to other people.
Spencer Johnson
Jim Wesberry
4

FadingHonor…..
“Honor” is an endangered word…a devalued verbal currency.
Jim Wesberry
5

The anonymity of the megacity has relegated honor to the garbageheap of history. Personal invisibility within the mass of humanity has obviated the need to be honorable or even honest. Who cares what others think?
Jim Wesberry
6

Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.
- Proverbs 22:1
Jim Wesberry
7

Simultaneously
with the
diminishing
importance of
honor
its meaning is being
diluted into
n o t h i n g n e s s
Jim Wesberry
8

Honor, though not yet dead,
like the proverbial old soldier of the ballad…
is just fadingaway
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.
Jim Wesberry
9

Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud
- Sophocles
Jim Wesberry
10

It is best to live with honor for just a day than with dishonor for many decades
- Sri SathyaSai Baba, Indian Spiritual Leader
Jim Wesberry
11

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Honorificabilitudinity
Honorableness
Honorability
Honorable
Honoree
Hon.
Jim Wesberry
12

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?
Jim Wesberry
13

What is an Honorable Man? (1)
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.
Jim Wesberry
14

What is an Honorable Man? (2)
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
Jim Wesberry
15

A person is not given integrity.
It results from
the relentless
pursuit of honesty
at all times
-author unknown
Jim Wesberry
16

Integrity + Honesty + Accountability
+ Ethics + Credibility
= HONORABILITY
Corruption + Fraud + Bribery
+ Irresponsibility + Inveracity
=DISHONOR
The Character Equations
Jim Wesberry
17

It is no longer always a disgrace, blemish or stigma to be corrupt, dishonest or dishonorable.
Contempt for formerly high standards is now often worn as an ornament of pride, rather than a blemish of shame.
Jim Wesberry
18

SHAME
must be made
fashionable
Jose Marti, Cuban Patriot
Jim Wesberry
19

In the Orwellian “Newspeak” of 2010:
DISGRACEFUL ACTS
ARE HONORABLE
CORRUPTION IS
OPPORTUNITY
Jim Wesberry
20

TODAY
The pollution of the human character is a far worse danger than environmental contamination or global warming
Jim Wesberry
21

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
Jim Wesberry
22

I hope that I shall always possess
Firmness and virtue enough
to maintain what I consider
the most enviable of all titles,
the character of an Honest Man
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Jim Wesberry
23

Some short snapshots of corrupt practices
in Georgia at mid-2oth Century
A powerful and despotic County Judge also owned a business that sold his own county more gasoline that all its vehicles and equipment could possibly have used in one whole year. He became the first and only judge impeached, convicted and disbarred in the state.
Jim Wesberry
24

Every single county official in a certain county but one was found by an audit involved in some means of using their office for personal gain. The one honest official, a few years later while serving as prosecutor of bootleggers was blown to bits in his driveway by a bomb attached to his auto ignition.
Jim Wesberry
25

A County Commissioner contracted his own construction company with state funds to build roads in his own county. Upon exposure in an audit he was driven from office and convicted only to be freed by a corrupt judge. Several years later he was reelected by a forgiving electorate.
Jim Wesberry
26

A tractor dealer created scores of fictitious companies to bid against each other on state procurements where through collusion with Assistant State Purchasing Officer no other companies received requests to bid. Finally he turned state's evidence reluctantly but never admitted guilt though hundreds of documents signed by him bidding against himself were proven. He served a limited prison term.
Jim Wesberry
27

The Governor's brother received monthly checks from major state supplier. He was indicted, tried and found not guilty through the brilliance of an astute defense lawyer before agullible jury. He later was elected to the State Legislature.
Jim Wesberry
28

Numerous officials enriched themselves legally by buying undeveloped property at intersections where major highways were to be constructed.
Jim Wesberry
29

Tax collection administrators covered up thefts by a colleague who when proven guilty took drugs to try to trick a polygraph test.
Jim Wesberry
30

Vote tally trickery, legal shenanigans and lock changes on the Capitol Building’s doors resulted in the state actually having simultaneously three governors instead of one for several weeks.
Jim Wesberry
31

Election law rigging made one rural voter’s ballot worth more than four city dwellers votes over many decades.
Jim Wesberry
32

Dead people were so well organized in one county that they voted in alphabetical order in state elections.
(One State Senator jokingly introduced a bill to prohibit the deceased from voting after they had been dead for two years).
Jim Wesberry
33

Swimming in Fertilizer
Jim Wesberry
34

Rolling in Toilet Paper
Jim Wesberry
35

If the chief party, whether it be the people, or the army, or the nobility, which you think most useful and of most consequence to you for the conservation of your dignity, be corrupt, you must follow their humor and indulge them,
and in that case honesty and
virtue are pernicious.
- Machiavelli
Jim Wesberry
36

Vice and Corruption
Seen too oft,
familiar with her face,
we first endure,
then pity,
then embrace.
---Alexander Pope
Jim Wesberry
37

KLEPTOCRACY
Government by thieves
Jim Wesberry
38

Kleptofungus
Jim Wesberry
39

Integrity and honorability constitute the real
Kleptofungicide
Jim Wesberry
40

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.
Jim Wesberry
41

Concluding remarks from a recent study (1)
“The level of corruption in the Philippines…failed to show significant improvement despite decades-long struggle to curb corruption through various laws and policies. Deeply entrenched personalistic politics is an obstacle to reform efforts. Another reason is turf war between present and previous incumbent politicians. The new administration tends to abandon programs initiated by the previous administration…wasting incremental success achieved by the previous government…
Jim Wesberry
42

Concluding remarks from a recent study (2)
The Neo-Patrimonial System (using state resources to secure loyalty in the general population) is sustained by commonly seen features in developing countries, particularly ethno-linguistic fractionalization, absence of democracy and accountability and economic inequality…productive forces have to learn to operate within this system, while keeping a firm long-term goal of creating a system which will value integrity and dignity much more than personal and material gains from political power.”
– From Corruption and Development, Revisited, Jenny D. Balboa and
Shinji Takenaka, Philippine Institute of Development Studies, June, 2010
Jim Wesberry
43

EXTRACTS FROM BENIGNO S. AQUINO IIIPLATFORM of GOVERNMENT
Corruption robs our children of their protection, nutrition and education.
Corruption destroys our families and communities.
Corruption steals from our farmers and workers.
Corruption deters businessmen from investing in our economy.
This has eroded our spirit as individuals, as communities, as a people.
We have lost trust in the democratic institutions we so courageously re-established after the dictatorship…
We have ceased to depend on the patriotism and civic engagement that used to animate many of our efforts…
Our moral faculties as a people have been paralyzed.
44

EXTRACTS FROM BENIGNO S. AQUINO IIIPLATFORM of GOVERNMENT
The Vision for the Philippines
A country with…
1. A re-awakened sense of right and wrong, through the living examples of our highest leaders…
3. A collective belief that doing the right thing does not only make sense morally, but translates into economic value as well;
45

Psalm 15
1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
Jim Wesberry
46

47
Psalm 15
4 who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
5 who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribeagainst the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
Jim Wesberry

An honest man
is the
most noble
work of God .
Alexander Pope
Jim Wesberry
48

Post Script:
Two unforgettable corruption cases
The case of Vice Presidential larceny
of the sacred cow dung.
The case of the public official who stole
a piece of the moon.
Jim Wesberry
49

Sacred cow dung encased in gold
Jim Wesberry
50

The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence,—luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition,—are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.
- Cyril Connolly (1903–1974), British critic
Jim Wesberry
51

Retuning the stolen
piece of the moon.
Jim Wesberry
52

Corruption is nature's way
of restoring our faith in
Democracy - Peter Ustinov
"They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent." - Daniel 6:4
Jim Wesberry
53

Jim Wesberry
54
Text and PowerPointsat
http://www.jimwes.com/id98.html
Mabuhay
Salamat
Pagpalain
kayo ng Dios

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Integrity and Honor, Corruption and Dishonor

by Jim Wesberry on Aug 17, 2010

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Integrity and Honor, Corruption and Dishonor — Presentation Transcript