By: Daniel Nardini
In an effort at keeping their border personnel honest, the Bolivian Customs Department will issue special pens equipped with micro-cameras and voice recorders to make sure that no illegitimate deals are made by their own customs personnel. The micro-cameras and voice recorders will operate during business hours, and all information of what customs officers do will be recorded. All such pens will be checked at random, and those who try to tamper with these pens will face jail. Every year, Bolivia loses an estimated U.S. $400,000 in lost tax revenue due to corrupt customs officials illegally selling ripped off merchandise or Bolivia’s mineral resources on the black market.
I have a question for the Bolivian government; is there any way of importing these type of pens into the United States? In my view it is an excellent way of keeping our own politicians honest. If every politician in the state and federal governments were required to carry such pens on their person, they could be held more accountable by the people. This would prevent politicians from signing lucrative deals to make them rich, prevent them from using taxpayer dollars to finance questionable and outright illegal business ventures (not to mention giving money to mistresses and prostitutes), and help investigators more easily nail those who engage in outright corruption and fraud. And such information of wrong-doing should be played to the public for judgement.
The politicians talk about putting the people under surveillance. Well, I believe that these politicians, with more power than they deserve, should be the ones put under surveillance. These people at the top are supposed to serve the people, follow the U.S. Constitution, and uphold the highest standards of public decency and honesty. And if that all fails, then they should be held under surveillance. These type of pens I think fit the bill of making sure that the politicians should be kept honest. Afterall, they are supposed to be in their jobs to be servants of the people.
The Corruption Fighting Pen
By: Daniel Nardini
I have a question for the Bolivian government; is there any way of importing these type of pens into the United States? In my view it is an excellent way of keeping our own politicians honest. If every politician in the state and federal governments were required to carry such pens on their person, they could be held more accountable by the people. This would prevent politicians from signing lucrative deals to make them rich, prevent them from using taxpayer dollars to finance questionable and outright illegal business ventures (not to mention giving money to mistresses and prostitutes), and help investigators more easily nail those who engage in outright corruption and fraud. And such information of wrong-doing should be played to the public for judgement.
The politicians talk about putting the people under surveillance. Well, I believe that these politicians, with more power than they deserve, should be the ones put under surveillance. These people at the top are supposed to serve the people, follow the U.S. Constitution, and uphold the highest standards of public decency and honesty. And if that all fails, then they should be held under surveillance. These type of pens I think fit the bill of making sure that the politicians should be kept honest. Afterall, they are supposed to be in their jobs to be servants of the people.