Well, so few good ones that we ever get to see. Mind you, Mal didn’t make a habit of hanging out in the nicer parts of the Alliance. I read somewhere (Either Wikipedia or the book “Finding Serenity” that the Alliance’s problem is that it doesn’t have the capability to control the entire System, and it feels it can’t afford to leave the system un-united to fight amongst eachother.
You notice that many of the services that the Alliance provides are done via contractors (the Postal service is one example, also much of the law enforcement is provided by private parties of varying degrees, ranging from the fellow in “The Message” who is implied to be locally hired and trained, to private security firms like the one in Serenity, to mercenaries hired directly by the locals (Our Mrs. Reynolds and Heart of Gold both fit this example, with Serenity and her crew essentially acting as private police on behalf of various parties).
Of course, that’s not to say there’s not corrupt private parties running around doing business (again with the guy in “The Message”, and presumably there are less-noble crews than Serenity’s looking for work), but it seems to more or less work in keeping interstellar peace. Now if only they could work on that whole widespread poverty and corruption problem, which is the biggest widespread problem the Alliance has (stuff like River and the Reavers are a totally other basket of weasels, and has more to do with the government itself rather than the institution as a whole). Presumably, the Alliance could work fairly well if the people running it on all levels were inclined to do so in good faith, but we see corruption running all the way from the Parliament down the lines to local officials and power-users on the Rim, even in such relatively highly-regarded institutions as the Companion Guild (Remember YoSafBrig? You don’t think she’s the ONLY bad apple in that barrel, do you?)
In short, it’s all Society’s fault. I have no idea where I’m going with this, I’m just tired.
