by Joseph LaPalombara
Introduction
The Oxford English Dictionary gives this as the first definition for the word, “corruption”: “The destruction or spoiling of anything, esp. by disintegration or decomposition, with its attendant unwholesomeness and loathsomeness; putrefaction.” The second definition refers to contagion, taint,” followed by another, which specifies a process and condition: “A making or becoming morally corrupt; the fact or condition of being corrupt; moral deterioration or decay; depravity.” (continue…)