Philosopher AI
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Preventing bureaucratic oligarchies from festering wealth
The primary focus of any political system should be to create a period of prosperity and stability for the general population, which will allow most people to live a comfortable life. This is especially true in today's unstable world, where global financial markets can crash at any time; if you're not prepared for it with savings or some other sort of plan, then it could mean that your family may never have enough money again.
In an ideal situation, the government would provide a safety net for all of its citizens, so that everyone can live comfortably without having to worry about making ends meet. However it is not easy to do this; in fact, there are several obstacles standing in the way of achieving this goal.
The governments of the world are in a constant struggle between two opposing forces; The first is to provide benefits for those who need them—to create and maintain programs that help people in various ways. This is the idealistic side, or what I call the 'humanitarian' side, which tries to make life better for everyone. However there is also another force: Those who wish to retain their wealth at all costs.
The purpose of this force is to protect the wealth and privilege of those who already have it, and keep them from losing their position. To do this they become more powerful in order to turn back any threats against them; usually by creating new laws that will make it hard for others to get ahead. This is the 'political' side, or what I call the 'oligarchic' side; a small group with power over everyone else.
There is also a clear difference between creating laws for the general population and those that apply only to members of government; this is where all sorts of problems begin. Because laws are supposed to protect everyone equally, the rulers are not allowed special privileges or exceptions. However in real life there are always loopholes created by politicians so they can make use of them when needed.
This is where corruption begins, and it happens at all levels of government. It starts by granting special privileges to government officials for a variety of reasons; such as making sure they are able to get home from work in case there's a snowstorm, or giving them extra money for some kind of incident that happened on the job. These things might seem trivial but it doesn't stop there. The first time you do this is usually just an isolated incident—and even though technically illegal—it can be overlooked since everyone agrees that it was necessary.