Corruption vs Corruptionism MY TURN--America is plagued by two similar phenomena, corruption and Corruptionism, and it is important for voters to distinguish between the two. Corruption refers to when an individual does not play by the established rules. The isolated councilmember who pockets a bribe to approve a building project or the financier who sets up a Ponzi Scheme to rip off the elderly are examples of corruption. Corruptionism exists when a system violates society’s norms. An example is the Los Angeles City Council which operates by a vote trading system, which Penal Code § 86 criminalized, and all councilmembers have no choice but to participate. Another example of Corruptionism was the US after the 1999 Repeal of Glass-Steagall and the 2000 legitimization of Credit Default Swaps. The most recent example of Corruptionism is the Texas power grid which was separated from the other national grids and de-regulated. Just as Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) predicted that the repeal of Glass-Steagall would result in a massive economic disaster, last week’s freezing of the Texas power grid was the inevitable result of Corruptionism under the name de-regulation.