Posted by
Political Labyrinth on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 8:12:51 PM
Accountable, adj. 1 answerable, responsible 2.explicable
I don't want to play a cruel joke on our young budding minds in kindergarten, but I'd love to make accountable the first entry in old Webster's dictionary. Now I realize this could offend many aardvark lovers out there who adore our ant eating friend from South America. Fair is fair and I believe it's time to tell the aardvark he's had plenty of time as the number one entry in the dictionary and it's time to share a little, right?
O.K stay with me here, the people for the acceptance of aardvarks or (PFTAOA) has given me their blessing to continue as if accountable were the first entry of the dictionary, but just this once and be sure to put it back when I'm done! Fine, let's move forward...
Whenver my kids walk into my office they are immediately greeted with a paper weight on my desk with the inscription "I am Accountable", etched into it's very core. This stands for one of the greatest early virtues I have instilled in my young guys. What accountable means to me is one who knows that any decision he makes he takes full responsibility for it no matter if the outcome is good, bad, or indifferent. At times this means you will have to pay someone back, say you are sorry, or fix a problem you may have inadvertantly created. Who knows maybe you could even take credit for something.
Now here is the problem, not many people out there adhere to the... 'it's my bad, I'll take care of that', policy. Instead what we have created is a society of whiners, rascals, scalawags and miscreants. Now I admit the easiest solution would be to pass the buck on a misdeed or blame someone else. But, hey wait! where are the true honorable men willing to throw their shoulders back and take it on the chin? To few to even stand up and be counted that's where. There are no John Waynes left in this town or Wall Street for that matter, only a bunch of Alex P. Keatings with a devilish Eddie Haskell (Leave it to Beaver referrence, look out!) smile on their face saying 'how was I suppose to know?'.
'there are times when the climate of the world is good for ethical things. Sometimes men trust one another and create good. At other times, it is not so'. Einstein archive 54-834. Very poignant considering how we have all been let down by these financiers and the wonderful government watchdog know as the federal reserve. This should prove as another reason why big government doesn't work considering one function of the fed is to ensure something like this wouldn't happen, right?
Economics 101 will show us that it's the federal reserves responsibility to grow the economy, but not too quickly. We all want more money, but not at the cost of a recession or depression... slow and easy will prevail. The quick dollar only creates bubbles in the market and we all know what happens to bubbles... most noticeably, panic! as we are all seeing today.
Now you may be wondering how I've gotten to this point of my rant. Well the answer is quite simple. My sons could be quick to point out that no one has stood up and been held accountable for Wall Streets misdeeds unto the public! Instead their solution or bailout lies in the hands, err... paychecks of the great citizens of this Country in the form of higher taxes. Instead of holding these individuals accountable we will simply pass the buck to the masses while the C.E.O's walk away with millions in pension dollars... What!?! This should be a 10 on the outrage meter. Now as you can see it will be tough at this point to go back and try to explain the 'pass the buck solution' to my kids considering I have spent the better half of this decade preaching accountability. Maybe my kid's should explain what they know of accountability and lecture these bankers and their government pals on the meaning. Now that would be change I can truly believe in.