“I don’t believe in the lone hero theory of disaster. For anybody to [redacted] up this big, they have to be standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Lois McMasters Bujold, as spoken by Miles Vorkosigan in the Vorkosigan Novels.
When I look at all of the disasters that have hit this country in the last two years, I increasingly appreciate the wisdom of this statement. It is pure Miles Vorkosigan, intended as a wisecrack, but containing a significant and important truth. Failure is not an orphan. It always has multiple parents, even when they attempt to disown it.
Think about it. Do you think that Pete Buttigieg created the container ship backup, the collapse of Southwest Airlines routing, the trucker shortage, the NOTAMS failure, (and general airline congestion), and a toxic train derailment single-handedly? He is just the public face of our transportation systems’ failures. He had plenty of help from people both within and outside the Federal government.
Anthony Fauci may have presided over the collapse of America’s public health system, but he, too, had plenty of help. Tens of thousands of health professionals, businessmen, and politicians beavered away unceasingly to create the crisis of confidence we have today. The worst part about it is when a real health emergency comes along everyone will ignore it until it is too late. The shepherd boy has cried “wolf” one too many times.
Nor is Biden solely responsible for the train wreck this country has become. I am not sure he is even partially responsible, because he is not really there. He just signs off on the policies that are placed in front of him by subordinates with the best of intentions and the worst of competencies. Biden truly is standing on the shoulders of giants in the field of incompetence.
There is no pain-free way to fix the problem, because the solution lies in accountability. If you foul up, you get disciplined. If you foul up badly enough, you get fired. If you succeed, you get rewarded and promoted. It worked in World War II. Generals and admirals who screwed up got sacked. Sometimes they got second chances (Admirals John McCain and Marc Mitscher were two who did), but not in the commands where they failed. Most of all you do not reward simple participation. (A Space Medal of Honor for flying a new type of spacecraft on a familiar mission? Get real folks, that is a “star on a service ribbon” territory.)
Doing that means people’s feelings get hurt. They get told they are not good enough. That they are not “special” (except perhaps in the Special Olympics sense of being special). The alternative is what is happening now: people actually getting hurt to spare the feelings of those not competent to hold their jobs.
Failure is not the result of one individual in the wrong position. It is the result of a system that permits individuals in the wrong position to remain in the wrong position. If it does not change? As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man. The Gods of the Copybook Headings limp up to explain it once more . . .
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