Very Serious People, Cont.

 While writing the previous post, it made me realize part of what I find so frustrating about -  waves hand -- everything.

Too many of the powers-that-be seem so cavalier about everything. 

In the example I gave before, I mentioned that if someone making dumbass statements was ever actually in the position to do what they casually said, that I would expect them to sit back and think about it.

There is... a weight to being in charge. We talk about the burden of command because the person giving the orders that leads to someone's death does bear a burden.

Should bear a burden. 

You can't not give the order, not if it's truly needed. But it should not be done lightly or casually, because you are spending people's lives when you do. 

There's a trust that should be there. Your people know and trust that you're not spending their lives wastefully, that the mission you give them is one that needs doing, in pursuit of something they support. If you have a voluntary military (like we currently do), then your duty isn't to prevent them from ever facing harm or risk, it's to make sure that when they do take those risks, that it's done for a good reason.

There's a gravity there, and honestly anyone giving orders who doesn't feel it shouldn't be in that position in the first place.

They don't feel the weight of responsibility enough, and are likely to get people killed wastefully and unnecessarily. And might not even learn their lessons in the process.

And that doesn't just apply to the men and women serving this country. Every. Single. Elected. Official. was elected to serve the American people.

They have obligations and duties to us, which I personally think they have failed miserably at, but whatever. Part of the reason so many politicians act as Very Serious People is that they are acknowledging that weight, that duty.

And then we get these clowns who act like it's all a joke, as if politics is just like a game. Support your team, badmouth the other side, and when it's all over you can just go home and go back to your normal life.

I do get the frustration with said people. Just because the put on a serious face doesn't mean they've actually been living up to their responsibilities, and we've had issues going on for quite a while now.

Too many of those Very Serious People seem like bureaucrats and other hidebound types, more focused on the rules and following and enforcing them than they are on actually fixing anything. Or even seeing that something needs fixed in the first place.

It just seems like now we have the worst of both worlds - ruled by people who don't limit themselves to the rules and laws we've developed over the centuries, and also not bound by any sense of duty or obligation to the American people either.

Or maybe they've just convinced themselves that devolving like this is in the interest of the American people. It's so hard to tell whether it's cynical self interest or willful denial at play.