I will bite. I don't know the context in the USA but there was similar issue in Turkey that ended very badly.
So in Turkey there is this islamic cleric, a charismatic figure who was a "Youtuber" before the internet. His organisation was spreading his message through VHS tapes and he gained substential following. Innocent enough, right?
Well, the problem is that the guy was preaching about infiltrating institutions, "the capillaries" in his own words, to create a "golden generation" and to achieve that cheating, killing, destruction of lives was acceptable for greater good.
The Turkish military was the primary target of the organisation and the military at one point began expelling people for being associated with this organisation.
How they were getting in? First it was through legit ways: study for the exams. Later, those who get it keep their alliance with this organisation and did whatever they can to get more people in. At some point, they reached dominance in the admission process and some of the branches were recruiting from this organisation - exclusively. They were passing the exam questions to the organisation and the organisation got all their people in. They created an unofficial ranking scheme inside the military where officially highly ranking personel could be below the cafeteria guy.
At some point they were everywhere that matters and were the unofficial partner of Erdogan up until they decided that they want it all and clashed with Erdogan. Erdogan won, then they attempted a coup. Erdogan won again.
Crazy stuff, right? I wouldn't believe it up until the coup night when people dragged civilians associated with these people out of the tanks on live TV and CCTV footage of the airbase that bombed the parliament. On the CCTV, businessman known to be associated with this organisation was running around the base, checking the screens, talking to solders - he was clearly directing the air attacks that nigh.
So yes, corruption in these institutions is a big deal.
People can have opinions but you don't want to have an organisation infiltrating your institutions. In Turkey the culprit is usually islamists, in the west it tends to be far-right extremists. A guy with opinions passing an exam is different from a nazi organisation pulling an operation to get in the ranks.
So in Turkey there is this islamic cleric, a charismatic figure who was a "Youtuber" before the internet. His organisation was spreading his message through VHS tapes and he gained substential following. Innocent enough, right?
Well, the problem is that the guy was preaching about infiltrating institutions, "the capillaries" in his own words, to create a "golden generation" and to achieve that cheating, killing, destruction of lives was acceptable for greater good.
The Turkish military was the primary target of the organisation and the military at one point began expelling people for being associated with this organisation.
How they were getting in? First it was through legit ways: study for the exams. Later, those who get it keep their alliance with this organisation and did whatever they can to get more people in. At some point, they reached dominance in the admission process and some of the branches were recruiting from this organisation - exclusively. They were passing the exam questions to the organisation and the organisation got all their people in. They created an unofficial ranking scheme inside the military where officially highly ranking personel could be below the cafeteria guy.
At some point they were everywhere that matters and were the unofficial partner of Erdogan up until they decided that they want it all and clashed with Erdogan. Erdogan won, then they attempted a coup. Erdogan won again.
Crazy stuff, right? I wouldn't believe it up until the coup night when people dragged civilians associated with these people out of the tanks on live TV and CCTV footage of the airbase that bombed the parliament. On the CCTV, businessman known to be associated with this organisation was running around the base, checking the screens, talking to solders - he was clearly directing the air attacks that nigh.
So yes, corruption in these institutions is a big deal.
[0] : some CCTV footage from the airbase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLEOKnCcRNM
[1] : an article about the guy being sentenced for life in prison: https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/15-temmuz-darbe-girisimi/akinci-dav...