Following the trend that has led so many Americans to further distrust public officials and the “gubament” in general, Alan Greenspan said yesterday that the current financial crisis is not his fault, but merely a flaw.
If there’s one thing about Americans, it’s that we want someone to take responsibility for their actions.. Someone needs to be blamed in the eyes of Americans, and when the somebody responsible does everything in their power to deflect that responsibility, it angers people even more.
Really this is simple stuff. I don’t understand why people won’t own their actions and just move on. It’s so much easier than the long extended dance mix of finger pointing. The “blamers” seem to forget that every time they point the finger at someone else, there are three more fingers on that hand pointing back at them.
Further, people that point out mistakes are not to blame for the mistakes. The mistake was there before anyone pointed it out. There’s been a lot of noise about the SCDP ballot thing that they refused to fix on their own, and how it’s the people, like myself, who deserve blame for publicizing the mistake. It’s unfortunate that we have leaders who are so wrapped up in being right that they cannot accept their responsibility for something even if it was a subordinate, or subordinate body that actually made the error. As Chairman of the SCDP, Keith Norman is responsible for everything the SCDP does. If he doesn’t like that, he should step down.
Finally, I think it’s important that people who are not to blame, not accept it out of convenience or attempted consensus building. If accepting blame is the sole condition for consensus, walk away. You do not need them. They have failed not you, and hopefully you have learned a valuable lesson in the process. People who wish to deflect blame to create a false consensus are not your ally, they are the enemy of the change this City, County, State and Nation so desperately need. Ultimately, they have a personal need for you to take the blame more than you need anything they have to offer.
My final word on the Ballotgate imbroglio…I’m glad the ballots are fixed, I’m sad the situation that created the problem was left unresolved.