When people complain about corruption in government, I often point out that it's not corruption; it's government working exactly as it's designed to work.
Here's a sampling of what Dictionary.com says of "Corruption":
The act of corrupting or state of being corrupt. Antonyms: purity, honesty...
Moral perversion; depravity. Synonyms: immorality, dissolution.
Perversion of integrity.
Corrupt or dishonest proceedings.
Bribery putrefactive decay; rottenness. Synonyms: contamination, pollution, foulness, putrescence, putrefaction, rot...
Any corrupting influence or agency.
This is a perfect description of how political government is designed to work. Government as normal. You can't distinguish between government and "corruption" except in your fantasies.
Part of that design is to employ fraud. So, the fraud isn't evidence of corruption, just of government being what government is. The fraud is still fraud.
How does Dictionary.com describe "Fraud"?:
Deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
A particular instance of such deceit or trickery.
Any deception, trickery, or humbug.
Guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; Lacking integrity
This is what government does. How it functions. This is on top of the supposed "corruption" that is what government is.
However, if you want to claim "It's not fraud; it's how government operates", I'm not going to argue with you. Either way, society would be better off if we stopped tolerating it.
Tips are nice.
