Corruption decomposes the Democracy or the false Democracy breeds the corruption?

By Demosthenes Kyriazis

 MEP and former Minister Mrs. Marietta Giannakou in an article in Kathimerini of 06.29.2014 makes important findings about the corruption that exists in the Greek state and the causes that created it. Title of the article is: "Corruption decomposes the Democracy».

The opinions and information contained in this article, on both the forms and the causes of corruption, and on the measures to be taken to combat it, are reliable and weighty. However, the conclusion that strongly expressed in the title of the article: "Corruption decomposes the Democracy", is wrong, if not misleading. This conclusion contradicts both with logic and experience as well as with the law of social systems' entropy. 

But let's try a brief presentation of these views.

1. The logic and experience

Corruption is not a natural phenomenon uncontrolled by man, such as earthquakes, but it is the absurd and immoral acts of individual people, or people of some social / political systems and groups.

The acts of corruption are committed out of humble personal motives and, mainly, in the context of incentives, capabilities and opportunities created by the political / social systems. Corruption therefore is the result and not the cause. For same cases, causes that result in corruption are mentioned in this article.  

The majority of ordinary citizens, as the writer, reading this interesting article led to the opposite conclusion: The corruption does not decompose Democracy, but the decomposition of the Democracy and its transition into party politics creates and breeds corruption.  

 Indeed, from the logic, experience, and those mentioned in the article, a general and solid conclusion is clear that: behind every form of corruption it is always some hidden irrational and immoral institution; some irrational and immoral decision of the power. This is the germ of "virulence of political systems” referred in the author’s article and not the corruption.

 2. The Law of Entropy

Entropy in Statistical and Quantum Mechanics is defined as the measure of ataxia (disorder)   of the system’s elements. The same definition applies too in the social systems, with the clarification that by the term “ataxia” we mean a violation of natural laws and not the human's ones, which often are inconsistent with the laws of nature. The Law of Entropy states that: "In all systems - Thermodynamic, Physical, Technical, Social - the ataxia (entropy) has just one future perspective; its increase."

 From this law the following conclusions come out:

•  Common fate of all systems, including the political / social ones, is the increase of Entropy (disorder, corruption), which eventually leads to their complete collapse. When the Galaxies deterministically treading to the increase of entropy, degradation and death, we understand what applies to anthropogenic systems, such as the regime of Representative Democracy, in which the power is exercised by representatives and not from the people themselves, an institution that, as mentioned in the following, is the key factor in increasing the entropy.
• In the social systems the Entropy is proportional to the degree of concentration of power[i]. Therefore increased Entropy means stripping citizens of their own power, donated to them by God, and voluntary or involuntary its concentration to a king, to an “enlightened leader ", to a few representatives. When the power concentration increases too much, degradation and reduction of the effectiveness of the system happens; namely those that we see happening in our country, where people have transferred all of their power to the elected and self elected(arbitrary)[ii]  representatives.
• Man can neither cancel, nor surpass the determinism of Entropy. He only can establish and implement rules that slow the inevitable increase of Entropy, rules that minimize corruption.

In today's democracies, however, those exercising the power, aiming at gaining and maintaining it, do the opposite. Not from ignorance but from self-interest, they adopt rules accelerating rather than slowing the increase of Entropy and limit the force of existing institutions for the reduction of Entropy, hypocritically maintaining their wording. Such important institutions, institutions for producing negative Entropy are: The distinction and independence of the legislative, executive and judicial powers, the independence of MPs (their function as representatives of the people and not of the party) and the universal validity of Laws.

The transfer of citizens’ power in representatives is incompatible with physical determinism, which states that the atomic power (the power of the individual, the freedom) is non-transferable. It is non-transferable, as the muscular or intellectual power, because all these forms of man's power are gifts of Nature and not of enlightened leaders. Today’s form of representation is therefore the main cause of increasing Entropy; it is an �βρις (hubris) with the ancient Greek sense of the word[iii]. 

On the basis that the main cause of Entropy’s increase is the institutions, its reduction can be achieved only by canceling the cause that creates it, that is with the rational participation of citizens in the exercise of power;  only by changing of what happens today when the power carried out at 100% from the elected representatives (MPs, union leaders) and others self elected/ arbitary  representatives. All of these representatives acquired moral and institutional status because, as they claim, express the will of citizens (!). This institutional practice however, is inconsistent with the logic and morality. It is obvious that the will of the citizens  is expressed reliably only by the citizens themselves and not in the way “expressed” in the current Representative Democracies; by the elected or self elected  representatives, and from the objective or rigged polls.   

In the ancient Greek Democracy, in the true Democracy, citizens had themselves all the power in their hands, by taking only the "major" decisions. The plethora of “minor" decisions, induced and restricted by the major ones, were taken by the leaders (�ρχοντες). The Citizens in the true Democracy exercised the power in the same way that a King once did. 

In today's Democracies, major and minor decisions are taken from the elected representatives and the power of the citizens has been limited to elect the representatives who will take all the decisions ... for their own good. But this controversial "citizens’ power" is exercised with rules and practices, not defined by the citizens but by their representatives (!!).  

Within the above “institutional ataxia”, elected and self elected representatives acquired the right to say whatever they want, with the excuse that they speak "politically."  But “I speak politically” means that “the citizens speak” or that I express the reliable and unquestionable will of the citizens’ majority; “I speak politically” does not mean an opinion expression accompanied by the arbitrary claim that this is the will of the citizens’ majority.   

From all the foregoing it is obvious that many of the current principles and practices of the representation institution constitute violations of physical laws and of principles of logic. They are the root cause of increasing Entropy. 

It is important that constitutionalists and political scientists, following a different path from that of Entropy, have reached to the same conclusions mentioned above and created institutions to protect the political systems from increasing power concentration, from increasing Entropy.  Such important institutions, institutions for producing negative entropy, have been mentioned above.

Conclusions

• The corruption does not decompose the Democracy (Δημο κρατ�α), but the decomposition of the Democracy and its transition into Κομματο κρατ�α (party politics), gave birth and institutionalized the corruption.
• The corruption as obedient to the law of Entropy does not vanish but can only be minimized.  There is only one way to reduce corruption at levels much lower than at present, the amendment of the Constitution[iv] , which will ensure the rational participation[v] of citizens in the exercise of power and the smooth operation of the aforementioned institutions producing negative entropy. The efforts and promises of both the Government and Opposition to eradicate corruption, regardless of how sincere they are and not propaganda, would not yield results, if constitutional reforms would not be carried out.
• The only solution left is the regeneration of the regime of true Democracy, born 2500 years ago in Athens, by adapting its principles and practices to the 21st century conditions, especially to those of the digital technology. The only solution that remains is the rebirth of the Regime of Low Entropy.    http://www.dd-democracy.gr/article.asp?Id=92