The Bully pulpit?

It is not surprising to find in a recent survey that US students in grades six through ten in 2001, 13% reported bullying others, 11% reported being a victim of bullies, and another 6% said that they both bullied others and were bullied themselves. These numbers mean that over five million children are affected by bullying.
The real question is, do they learn it from the countries leaders or do the leaders take the culture of bullying with them through life?
The issue, of course, has everything to do with corruption. If society was generally more attuned to caring about the impact actions might have on others the culture of greed and corruption could not exist.
I do love coming across new (to me) terms during my research. This time ‘bully pulpit’ was thrown up. Strangely, for what should be a pejorative, this term seems to be acceptable for those taking a stand, choosing to fight fire with fire.
More power to those who stand up against bullies, but using their language seems to diminish things somewhat.
I suspect many of the issues of corruption are now ingrained in societies like the USA. Right from their earliest experience children are learning the elements of corruption, although often dealt out quite innocently.
A frustrated parent might be quick to bribe a child to behave in a certain way, or on the other hand, coerce and bully. It seems to be a learned cycle of behaviour which reinforces the naturally, self survival, grasping tendencies of helpless tots.
Without some measure of mitigation along the way these tots become our schoolyard bullies, taking this antisocial behaviour on into the workplace and eventually into positions of power.
The sad part is, the often intelligent, gifted adults who attain leadership in our western democracies still carry this socially destructive burden from their infancy. We might well claim to have the most highly educated populations in history, but it seems that is coupled with an attachment to infantile behaviour patterns.Instead of styling our leaders as highly intelligent it is more appropriate to use terms like clever, smart, streetwise, cunning… Until we, as mature societies, develop the ability to actually grow up emotionally, corruption and bullying are bound to dog our footsteps.