Addendum

Now the thread is far down enough that this will not create a fork with 70 responses (I hope)

This is what I mean when I remark corruption in the Third World.

You, Markaba, and probably most of the people on GC, though certainly not all, have no experience at all with that level of corruption. Sure, American politicians get all kinds of kickbacks from lobbyists; and there is an honorable tradition of the mafia buying politicians, judges, union leaders. Nothing is at the scale at which many (though not all, that must be said too) Third World countries are. Like India itself.

And this is what I mean when I say corruption hurts the poor more than it does the rich.

And this is the kind of thing that happens, and which people are facing everyday, when I am remark the popularity of religious parties or movements: Islamic in Muslim countries, but also Christian in Third World Christian countries, and Hindu in India itself. Religious movements are the only ones which have anti-corruption pledges and which don't forget them once in power - and yes, a lot of that is precisely because they are religious parties.

So, when a Westerner complains "but they're gonna attack Israel;" "but they're gonna oppress wymyn;" "but they're gonna execute gays;" "but they're gonna ban XYZ and inflict ABC punishment for that;" that Westerner is acting like the option is between that and a government, not just more secular, but as little corrupt as those they themselves live under. Well, no. The choice is many times between a government as thoroughly corrupt and openly predatory (but more secular) and a government with a much better standard of honesty in governance, and more religious. No wonder many people choose the more religious. Even with harsher laws, a more equal enforcement of the laws protects the vulnerable better than do "more civilized" laws enforced at the will of the inaccessible elite. And the vulnerable realize this.

And this is why so many Afghans still prefer the Taliban to the Karzai regime and provincial allies. For the easiest, if not the best, example.