No end yet then to the queue of MPs filing into chokey for plumping up their overheads.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the MP’s expenses affairs is the complete lack of guilt displayed by the people involved.
Indeed they appear quite genuinely indignant at their portrayal as greedy, seedy and in some cases, criminal.
Them and us?
We must not assume however that this ‘guiltless’ corruption is found only amongst the high and mighty. It can be found among the lower and less mighty amongst us just as much.
I believe the cause lies with our educational system, which teaches us that those who go on to jobs in banking, insurance, or politics are on a career path which is in some way, morally as well as intellectually, superior to those who become car mechanics and plumbers.
Stepping stones or dead end?
For the one, no matter how humdrum in practice, is seen as a stepladder to higher things. Whilst the other, no matter how skilled, is labelled as a dead end job with no ambition required, no promotion expected.
That is why so many stick to a low paid menial job in an office, when swapping their cheap suit for a set of overalls would markedly increase their income.
That is why they wax furious when pulled over for some minor
traffic violation, demanding to know why the policeman isn’t chasing ‘proper’ criminals. Meaning someone with grease or paint under their fingernails.
That is why they, with a clear conscience fiddle their expenses just as far as they dare, take home company notebooks; pens; folders and copy paper for their children to use. (Oh yes, me too). And, as the more successful mount the level of success, why they increase their ‘innocent’ filching in proportion to the sort of sums they’re dealing with.
Figures on a screen
After all, what’s a few thousand here or there when you’re handling millions? It’s all only figures on a screen. And that is why they are amazed that such acts should be labelled dishonest.
They are, after all respectable citizens, not thieves. Anything they pocket on the side is just a perk they deserve, after all they’ve done for the boss; for the community; for the country; and can in no way be compared to filching a set of spanners or some timber from the company stores.
That is stealing.
Image: Patrick Hoesly under CC BY 2.0
