The Moral Trap

With respect to clarity, and my friend Bruce, I should clearly acknowledge the corruption activity in other developed countries.
America, You Are on Show and other articles focusing on US corruption are making a specific point. That is, the USA has assumed a moral leadership in the world, which requires that malfeasance, is denied, hidden or attention diverted. I merely seek to put the spotlight on that reality.
Having done that, what of other countries:
Australia
It was no easy thing to grow up in Australia and not be aware of public corruption. It was rampant and visible. So much so that a number of very high profile special and royal commissions entertained the populous with gory detail for years.
The emphasis soon became, not how to live with corruption, but how to root it out. Well, given human nature that might never happen. However, given various federal and state responsibilities, a number of very efficient corruption fighting bodies were created.
The primary issues in Australia were:
Police corruption of various types
Political such as ‘jobs for the boys’ or cronyism, expenses and travel rorts (fraud), influence peddling; and in a bracket all of its own, electoral fraud and manipulation. Sadly, in some cases, the latter has been dealt with by legalising it.
Canada
It is difficult to pin a great deal of corruption on the Canadians. To be sure, there is the long running ‘sponsorship scandal’. This was more a nest of corrupt activities, including cronyism, expenses fraud, influence peddling and outright theft.
The various enquiries into these activities looks set to become a scandal in itself, but that is what happens when corruption fighting is used as a political tool rather than for its own ends.
The current government is moving toward greater oversight of public activities, essentially finance related. Perhaps they should be adopting a more rigorous approach, such as fully empowered anti-corruption agencies.
Britain
Here is a country with a tremendous legacy of scandal and corruption. Most notable, perhaps, are those somehow related to the intelligence community. Spying is a strong part of the government culture in Britain and regularly produces scandal.
Electoral fraud still seems to make regular headlines in Britain. Not so much the big money kinds as street level vote fiddling. Like Australia, Britain has tried to legalise various electoral aberrations, but she now has Europe looking over the shoulder, insisting on fair play.
The very powerful local government system in Britain has its own culture of corruption. From development to car parking, the monster is forever raising its ugly head.
Britain identified another species of corruption, more annoying perhaps than actually dangerous: the Job's Worth. These people can exist virtually anywhere within the civil service or even private enterprise. While there is often no gain for them, the job's worth simply like to make things difficult, because they can.
Europe
There is generally some scandal bubbling away across the continent. France, Germany and Italy are well versed in the ugly art.

I do not include the ‘transition governments’, notably Russia and of course a range of African and Asian countries. It is generally expected that transition governments will have a battle with all levels of corruptions until they have sufficient strength and recourses to keep it in check.
Many of these countries have some interesting conditions which make the world view of ethical behaviour problematic. Gifts, for example, look like bribes to us, and most probably are. But they are also part of longstanding, acceptable tradition. Time will tell if they will fall into line with the rest and outlaw gifts.

Finally, none of these countries assume a moral high ground. To be sure, most of the developed countries recognise the problem and take steps to combat it. Steps modified perhaps by political culture and imperatives. Only the US goes into the world waving a flag of moral righteousness. And while they continue to do so, they are fair game for special attention.