No. Unpunished, open corruption among society’s leaders is the single fastest vector for rotting a society, because why should I believe you, or anyone, or any

No. Unpunished, open corruption among society’s leaders is the single fastest vector for rotting a society, because why should I believe you, or anyone, or any institution, when the only self-evident strategy that works is that power trumps everything. It trumps ethics and morality, it trumps consequences of our actions, and it trumps you - the outsider who is not me. The pendulum you speak of, just like a physical pendulum, runs out of steam, slows down due to friction and the loss of energy. And the only way to restart it is a not with nudges. It’s with a huge push all at once. This may result in some pretty radical swings before things settle down.