Monthly Archives: June 2015
As I was winding up my one and only tour in the Foreign Service of the United States, I was invited by a friend to attend a dinner in Bangkok with a group of senior Thai Police Officers. There were about eight, at least half were four-star generals, and I was the only foreigner at the table.
At this point in Thai history, there was an election underway and lots of discussion and debate about the different parties’ methods of winning votes. One getting a lot of attention in the press was the practice of swooping into a town around election day and just paying cash to residents for a commitment to vote for the candidate of “their” choice. (a practice that, regrettably, has not been completely eradicated).
While this distinguished group of gentlemen discussed the topic over dinner, I just listened, until one bald-headed general turned to me and asked, “So Carl, do you have vote buying in America?”
Gulp…
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