Debate: Is a government absent of corruption possible?
Side: No

But I ask you is it easier to find capable men or remove marginal seats?I gave you an answer a while ago. With our large population, we need a large number of seats. However at the same time, intellectuals tend to steer away from politics. All you're asking for is to find those that are interested, but we still must remember that in a democracy these men must be voted in.Well, sort of. In our situation, the profitable positions of power are like the green pastures of limited resources and the intelligentsia herders who are not going for these pastures, but instead turn towards academics and sciences, broad deserts with even fewer resources and most end up poor. Don't even try to say it's a passion and not about the money, sure they get paid little money but money is always in the equation as it makes the world go round.Actually that's way off. The intellectuals avoid politics because it is a social game full of deceit and sleazy people, and always has been. For whatever reason it's easier for academics to adopt the mindset of integrity and being above personal bias in information that is to be reported. These people who are needed most to clean up a dishonest system, want the least to do with it precisely because it needs a cleanup.So the intellects continue to allow the less intelligent or even the unintelligent control their lives. This reminds me of the high school hierarchy (ah, good times). The most deceptive are always the most popular, and the geeks and nerds, well, anyone whose gone to public schools in the States or watched teen flicks knows. Not to say the popular aren't/weren't smart or the losers are/were. Personality wise, the more aggressive/competitive would end up in positions, not necessarily more important, but, lets just say, that require more socialization than the shy geek in chem class. Of course if you pick on the geek too much he'll try to slip arsenic in your water when you're older.This can be summed up very well by a famous quote:Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.Charles DarwinSurely the more intelligent must realize those in power control their lives, to some extent, high school hierarchy or politics.I'm more interested in building or programming my latest project than enslaving or hurting our deceptive leaders. I'm sure that many intelligent people feel the same way. Conquest just isn't as interesting or feasible as a personal project.Take taxes for instance, say you grossed one million dollars, you're single, no medical bills, independent (not business owner), not really any deductions; the government takes $103,791.75 plus 35 per cent above $357,700 or $224,805 (0.35($1,000,000 - $357,700 (or $624,300))), which equates to roughly one-third of your income. Oh I almost forgot, that's just federal income tax, State tax depends on your state. And then there's also other taxes for owning stuff, buying stuff, selling stuff, and other ones too. So depending on how much you own, buy, sell, and other activities, but lets not focus on these for the sake of simplicity, you may have to pay up half, or more, of your gross. Really?, smart people can't do the math and decide maybe, just maybe, it's best to place themselves in power.So the choice is: take on an army that can immolate a nation, and owns trillions of dollars, or play a game of deception and base building, all in the grand scheme of becoming... the same as your enemies.Or simply pay your legal extortioners off and hope that the money does some good, while taking solace in the fact that you still live very comfortably.