I mean has there ever been a corruption free government?

Corporations merging with politics is also a harbinger for a nightmare totalitarian existence and why propaganda psyops have become so saturating.

No, but in countries like the US and the Netherlands you can clearly see its been increasing a lot over the last decades.

"No we have no corruption, that's only lobbyism, and lobbyism is an important part of democracy"

-Politicians

Or it just shows more because they're not able to hide it as well as before.

Thats definitely not the case in the Netherlands and as we see the power of companies rise I think its unlikely to be true in a lot of other countries

Sure, was there really less corruption in the past? Or was it just a different kind of corruption that wasn't as easily identified?

If a politician used to take small bribes from 3000 companies, but now takes large bribes from 300 companies, is corruption less, more, or the same but different ?

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I feel like implementing a system where the government is antagonistic to businesses - rather than co-operative - would make for a better capitalist system. I can still see some problems, like government overreach to try and curb corporations and hurting smaller businesses, but I'm sure smarter folks could find a way to resolve that. The constitution might already be enough of a check and balance against that.

Taking bribes is what people think about when they hear corruption. But in developed nations thats not usually it. They do it for power. And I can say with certainty in the last two decades the Dutch government has increasingly been pressuring the press, hiding information, putting political friends in investigation committees, classifying things because they would reflect bad on the politicians etc I am not well versed in the state of every nation but if you dive deeply into dutch politics its been getting increasingly worse, and because the more visible trends seem to line up with other countries I do believe its getting worse in many places. I might be overgeneralizing though.

Let me gues Hungury

It was always corrupt, you just didnt saw or cared

> And I can say with certainty in the last two decades the Dutch government has increasingly been

Lots of people say things "with certainty" when it's just an opinion based on your perception.

You've noticed corruption with increased frequency. Therefore, you conclude the frequency of corruption has increased.

I mean, are we actually seeing that though?

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In the 30s, 40s, and 50s most countries in the world seemed to be, or just were, becoming full blown dictatorships, with democracies even having their leaders ousted in order to create dictatorships by other fascist and communist states. Additionally, government corruption has, in most parts of the world, massively chilled compared to where it was in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, thanks in large part to many major countries having leadership with strong anti-corruption sentiments. There are still dictators and definitely still corruption, but I don't think I would accuse any of that as being "on the rise", in fact, most dictatorships today are on the back foot compared to where they were forty odd years ago as global populations become more educated and willing to oppose governmental suppression.