I though I might catch a little flak for this one but China Daily published it just as I wrote it.  Full text below the jump.  I especially like the Mencius quote.

Tempted by twisty path of greed and corruption
By Sam Crane(China Daily)

Corruption makes everyone mad, not just righteous Confucians but also detached Daoists.

In
my home state of Massachusetts, a massive highway project, the "Big
Dig," costing billions of dollars, has failed tragically. The concrete
roof of a new tunnel in Boston fell on a car and killed a woman. It
seems that, besides watering down the cement in an effort to divert
money to private accounts, contractors chose an inferior support
system, one that allowed them higher profits at the expense of safety.

People
here are outraged. They do not expect such things to happen in America.
But such things do happen, in America, in China, all over the world.
Some places may be better at controlling corruption than others.
However, when large sums of money are at stake, selfish individuals
find ways to cheat and thieve.

The ancients also agonised over corruption.

Daoist
texts often seem aloof from ethical judgment. Human understandings of
right and wrong appear to matter little in the cosmic movements of Way.
Instead of imposing our human-created moral standards on nature,
Daoists tell us to accept the inevitable changes of ziran: "occurrence
appearing of itself," as one translator puts it.

But on the question of government corruption, the Tao Te Ching strikes a critical tone, as in this excerpt from passage 53:

"The Great Way is open and smooth, but people adore twisty paths:
Government in ruins, fields overgrown and granaries bare, they indulge
in elegant robes and sharp swords, lavish food and drink, and all those
trappings of luxury. It’s vainglorious thievery not the Way, not the
Way at all."

Other translations refer to the problem as "highway robbery," but the emotion is the same. I sense a palpable anger here.

On
the one hand, the text suggests that corruption is embedded in human
nature: "people adore twisty paths." The temptations of luxury might
draw any of us toward venality. Yet, at the same time, the passage says
that it is not natural; it violates the inherent tendencies of the Way.
The greed that motivates corruption is "not the Way."

Mencius, as
might be expected in light of his principled demand for good
government, also takes a dim view of corruption. He is especially
critical of those who tolerate rural poverty while they themselves
indulge in luxury. Always willing to speak truth to power, he says
directly to Emperor Hui of Liang: "There’s plenty of juicy meat in your
kitchen and plenty of well-fed horses in your stable but the people
here look hungry and in the countryside they’re starving to death.
You’re feeding humans to animals "

What a powerful image: feeding
humans to animals. It is repeated later in the text. The Emperor was
not actually engaging in such a barbaric act. But, Mencius is saying
the effect of his greed is of a similar immorality.

And so is
the corruption of Boston’s "Big Dig," or any such fraud anywhere. The
people responsible for the design and construction of the tunnel have,
in effect, buried a person alive. The State of Massachusetts is
currently investigating charges of negligent homicide. Let’s hope they
find the culprits, who could be guilty not only of "vainglorious
thievery" but also vainglorious murder.