The common rebuttal to anyone who blamed politicians or politics for the ills of society was that we elect them and they are part of the larger society so ultimately the blame is on us only.  I always complained that with this line of reasoning politicians go scott free but no one says the same when we find a scandal among businessmen. That is, no one says businessmen earn pots of money because we voluntarily buy their goods and services (like we vote for politicians) and they also come from the same larger society so their values reflect our values. So when we meet a corrupt businessman, we should just blame ourselves, like we do in case of a corrupt politician.

Ramesh Ramanathan finally has put my complaint to rest.  In Jan 15 Mint column he says:

The Satyam scandal is a painful and scorching lesson on the failings of the market…But there is a deeper and more unsettling angst. This has to do with ethics and values. Our actions come from our convictions. Our convictions are born of our values. In this sense, values are the fountainhead… And also instances such as Satyam, where an ambitious business family gets onto a tiger it doesn’t quite know how to dismount. The tragedy of the Raju brothers is that they are also victims of our society’s evolving value system, as we worship the gods of material success (my emphasis).
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The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CCS.

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