Accomplishment vs. Incompetence

It is important to teach and model to our youth that accomplishment, not incompetence, produces success.  Such teaching and modeling are certainly challenges today, given what is reported in the various sources of information that pass for media these days.  But teach and model we must.

While doing so, we should include caution that folks not answer the siren's calls from self-appointed experts who highlight, continuously it seems, the misbehavior, unethical practices, lack of integrity, cronyism, disrespect for the law, public indecency, hyperbole, and the like that manifest in various individuals.  What must be cited is that these reports address very view people.  In fact, the numbers are so infinitesimal as to be of no consequence.  Other than the media attention they receive, and self-importance they convey.  Let incompetence not be confused as success.

The vast, overwhelming majority of our fellow Americans succeed by their accomplishments.  Sure, almost all of us can point to some individual or another who appears to have succeeded because or in spite of their incompetence.  Once again, these are the exceptions rather than the rule.  In a somewhat humorous irony, these exceptions serve a purpose by highlighting the outliers, so the rest of us are seen as the norm.   

This norm also points to the imperative of individual responsibility, the crucial foundation for a vibrant, productive society.  It is individual responsibility that enables us to drive relatively safely on the roads, highways, and freeways of our country.  It is individual irresponsibility that directly contributes to the thousands of deaths per year in alcohol related motor vehicle collisions.  (Incidentally, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in 2011 alone, 9,878 people were killed due to drunk driving.  By comparison, 469 of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines died in combat on 2011 [Iraq and Afghanistan], with 6,630 in 11 years of combat through 2011 [Washington Post - Faces of the Fallen].)  It is individual responsibility that enables our present tax system of voluntary tax payment.  It is individual irresponsibility to fail to do so, as illustrated by the previous Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner.  It is upon individual responsibility that our legal system is founded, as witnesses swear or affirm to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."  It is individual irresponsibility to falsely claim to have "ran with our heads down" from an aircraft because of sniper fire at the Tuzla Air Base, as did Hillary Clinton while running for President in 2008.  It is individual responsibility to accept the consequences for one's actions, good and not-so-good.  It is individual irresponsibility to claim someone had hacked his Twitter account and sent indecent photos to young women, as did Anthony Weiner.   

I remain convinced that the majority of my fellow citizens embrace individual responsibility, even in the face of withering incompetence and excuses perpetuated by progressive liberals.  In some of the aforementioned examples, the person appears to have succeeded, even in the face of indisputable incompetence.  It may be easy to attribute accomplishment to these individuals, but we mustn't.  It is absurd that such people are considered to be successful.  Yet the media certainly makes it appear as they, along with countless others, are successes.

So, for our nation to improve and prosper, it is imperative to teach and model to our youth that accomplishment, not incompetence, produces success.