LEADERSHIP LETDOWN

Has personal responsibility in leadership fallen victim to
outsourcing? Has "the buck" not stopped at executive desks in America,
but rather flown across the pond to faraway states?

Today's international news sections light up with examples of foreign
leaders and figureheads taking personal and verbal responsibility.
Prince Harry, serving as a 22-year-old second lieutenant, is set to
deploy for Iraq. He continues a tradition of service historically
repeated throughout the British monarchy. The prince leads by example.

In other news, I find rare praise for the state of Israel. Upon
criticism by an official report regarding the cause and method of
military action against Lebanon (by questionable proxy to Hezbollah),
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted his mistakes. It is his
acknowledgment that "serious mistakes have been made by the leadership
that I head" that separates his service from the rhetoric of the
American political sphere. Granted, his words do not rebuild Beirut or
resurrect innocent Lebanese or Israelis, but they admit the flaw
behind the conflict and promote peace.

Coming home to the red, white and blue, there are only dismissals and
blame. At the national level, former CIA Director George Tenet cries
against his alleged use as a scapegoat by the Bush administration.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz portrays himself as a victim of a
"smear campaign" rather than admit to the flaws inherent to the World
Bank structure. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales repeats a stunning
plethora of synonyms for "I am not aware" in response to actions of
which it is his distinct duty to be aware. Retired generals asked to
return to service refuse to because they fear, rightly so, becoming
the next scapegoat.

Even locally we suffer this same plague. A University Police leader
responds to a subordinate officer violating Facebook terms of service
and perhaps privacy, or at least unfairly profiling students, with a
pathetic and misguided argument that it is the police's duty to
"enforce the law." Yes, officer, it is, but you must respect the
difference between enforcement and profiling. Had this been the '60s,
and the group a chapter of the NAACP, would this have been your duty?

Our leaders also have a duty to listen. Director of Resident Life Deb
Grandner refuses to reduce penalties for smoking marijuana, despite
reasonable pleas from the Residence Halls Association and Students for
Sensible Drug Policy. To amount cases involving a gram of marijuana to
a safety risk on the scale of "guns in dorms" is a fictitious scare
tactic and a weak dodge at taking progressive responsible action. The
housing crisis, while out of the news for now, still has its victims.
Who took the blame, or better yet, where are the solutions?

The reaction and the backlash to these refusals will eventually be
felt through continued pointless suffering under idiotic policies,
some resulting in deaths of Americans, others in a waste of resources
that could be better spent. The coming election, far off as it may be,
will likely see reactionary voting, a shrugging off of the Republican
Party of old that results in a paradigm shift. Is it too much to ask
to see a similar shift among College Park leadership?

The American way is to throw off the ineffective leaders and the reins
of bad governance. There are "causes which impel" us to action, and it
is the "right of the people to alter or abolish" such an abusing
government. Change is as American as those quotes from the Declaration
of Independence, and accepting blame for failures, mistakes and
misguided policy is the first step to accomplish that change.