Another stroll down a possibly naïve path: Was our government always this incompetent, or is this a new performance failure? Let’s dig.
When we assert that someone is ‘competent’ at any specific endeavor, we usually mean that the person involved has at least the bare minimum skill set and abilities to perform that particular task or job. For example, if a bricklayer is deemed ‘competent’, he or she possesses the skill to at least do the job of laying bricks for a simple project satisfactorily—not necessarily an expert, not an artist, not someone who does exceptional work, but can get a basic job completed in a normal amount of time. It shouldn’t look like an unskilled laborer (such as myself) did the work. There is a minimum level of skill assumed. More than minimum skill is likely a reach for someone merely ‘competent’, but ‘competent’ implies that simple projects should be within their range of abilities. And that level of ‘competence’ is only expected for that specific task—we don’t expect bricklayers to be able to frame, sheet-rock, or do plumbing or electrical work, and vice-versa. ‘Competence’ is the baseline skill set for nearly any specialty, whether it is a trade or professional endeavor. Sure, we’d prefer ‘excellence’ to ‘competence’ whenever possible, but many times, that extra ability comes at a cost we may not want to pay.
Tax dollars collected by virtually everyone in a given area pay the salaries of those doing ‘public services’, whether they are teachers, garbage collectors, police, firemen, street cleaners, and any number of positions that the public desires something be done for the community as a whole. We expect EVERY public service employee to possess at least the minimum skill set necessary to do whatever job they are hired to do. It is highly unlikely that ALL such folks have competency in those skills—humans are very human, and many attain their positions via personality, rather than actual abilities. When put to the test, many fail—if a fireman does not have the physical strength to carry an unconscious, average-sized body from a burning building, they are of little use during a fire emergency, and so on. And incompetent qualifications are disasters in waiting, depending upon the position—the more serious the position, the more harm is done by being unqualified to do it. As in the medical community, the incompetent surgeon is much more dangerous than an incompetent optometrist—we want both to be excellent, but the impact of mistakes of one field is greater than another. We now have District Attorneys in select large cities that have taken it upon themselves to declare they will not prosecute certain crimes–and the attendant spike in those crimes for those cities surprises absolutely no one. However, purposely failing to do the job one is elected to do is not strictly ‘incompetence’–this is willful negligence. I do not know if the people of these cities have any legal recourse for the criminal abdicating of the responsibilities of such positions, other than to vote them out of office next election cycle, but one hopes that succeeding DAs can hand them more of a punishment than just losing their cushy, neglected jobs.
In the political and administrative world, the public pays the salaries of those that are elected and/or appointed to their positions. Those salaries are based upon positions, not upon competency. Now, brain surgery ability is not normally required to cast a yea/nay vote, which is the base function of a congressman/woman or Senator. But we have a minimum expectation that those folks have read the legislation and have some political opinion on the topic at hand. An implied ability is to understand the US Constitution (you know, the one they swore an oath to upon getting elected), so the legislation they support should be within those boundaries. So, literacy is a bedrock qualification, as should be the ability to analyze the information in question. Theoretically, those congresspeople and Senators represent their constituents via those votes. And someone has to actually WRITE the legislation that is being voted upon, so there’s that.
At the top of the elected food chain is the President of the United States. This individual has some Constitutional requirements (naturalized US citizen, over the age of 35, etc.), but those are the end of his or her qualifications, other than getting more electoral college votes than anyone else in the last Presidential election. One does not need to be an attorney, military general, doctor, or businessman or woman, or anything else. Yet this individual, once elected, has great powers and responsibilities. Foreign policy, Executive Orders, veto or sign legislation, and represent the US on the world stage, and commander-in-chief of our entire military, are just a few of the necessary roles this person must perform. How we expect a qualified statesman to fill that position, given the roundabout way they get into the office, is a complete mystery, if not a blind coincidence. But the latest iteration of our Chief Executive appears to take incompetence to an unheard of level. He is unable to convey a coherent thought, even when reading from a Teleprompter. His staff spends a great deal of time and effort walking back nearly everything he says in public, as his scatter-brained thoughts are as inconsistent as they are unbelievable. Nearly every policy implemented by this President has been an abject failure for the citizens of this country, whether it is the handling of the economy, energy policy, student debt, military readiness, or treatment of our allies and adversaries worldwide. Unless the specific intent was for failure, in which case, he has been a resounding success.
Appointed positions are even more suspect for competency. Many assume the jobs upon appointment, while others must be confirmed by the Senate. The entire Cabinet consists of appointees—again, this is a political process, not a skills assessment. The head of a given Department may have zero experience, or even a rudimentary understanding, of the position he or she gets confirmed to! Supposedly, the administrative staffs of those Departments undergo some level of interview process to obtain their jobs, but it is not a public event—for all we know, those folks have as little qualifications as the Department heads above them.
Not so long ago, the working positions of our government implied competence—or at least, my naïve little mind thought so. Accounting people had accounting degrees or CPAs, engineers had engineering degrees (and experience), and so on. But our current level of political animal has so exhibited a lack of expertise, it is quite astounding. We have a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that thinks diversity is his main objective, along with battling ‘climate change’, rather than building the most effective fighting units possible. Huh? We have a Secretary of Transportation who’s main qualification is that he is gay. He was Mayor of South Bend, IN, but that doesn’t qualify him to run a complicated, National department. His lack of ability to do this job was embarrassingly evident when, during the worst supply chain disruptions since WWII, he was on maternity leave, absent for literally months on end. Upon returning to the job, he decided his biggest focus was that some roads were racist. No kidding. We have a Department of Homeland Security Secretary that thinks allowing over 2 MILLION illegals entry into the US via our southern border means that border is ‘secure as it can be’. Within his own Department, the Chief of Border Patrol is 180 degrees away from agreeing with him, and has said so publicly. These are just a few examples of people in high offices, supposedly doing tasks for the American People, that have demonstrated exactly ZERO competence in their roles. It is as if our Math Department is chaired by someone who cannot add two numbers together successfully, always arriving at an erroneous answer. This entire administration, up to the very top, is the textbook definition of ‘incompetence’, and they simply do not correct their mistakes—incompetent folks simply do not lose their jobs in favor of someone better qualified. The prior administration fired those that couldn’t or wouldn’t do the job, and replaced them with hopefully better candidates. This administration seems to be completely indifferent to performance, only concerned about social check-boxes to cross off. So, if you happen to notice a complete lack of ‘competence’ in the folks running the US government, you are not alone. Observance and correction of errors are a facet of ‘competence’, so you’re personally off to a good, if not great, start.
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