How Can We Achieve Accountability?

     In a world of isolated individuals, accountability is
simple.  Each individual would be accountable to himself. 
Anyone who goofed off or messed up would be the only one to
suffer the consequences.  It would be up to him to clean up his
act or continue suffering the consequences.  No one else would
suffer.

     Once individuals start interacting we grow concerned
about accountability.  The actions of each affect others.  The
consequences of an individual's actions may be beneficial or
detrimental to others, sometimes both.  There is a reason why
someone invented the "term mixed blessing."

     The more interactions we have, the more people we need
to hold accountable.  Also, more people need to hold us
accountable.  In our complex trading society we are served by
millions and, in turn, serve millions.  Those millions are spread
around the world.

     Butchers, bakers, and candle stick makers have been
joined by auto makers in Japan, shirt makers in China, fruit
growers in Chili, oil producers in Saudi Arabia, steel makers in
Italy, service reps in India, and legions of others who serve us. 
How can we hold all of these accountable while they hold us
accountable?

     If you could count all of the people who serve you the
count would reach millions.  How many individuals are involved
in providing a loaf of bread?  To name only a few: tractor
operators, truck drivers, millers, yeast makers, bakers, and clerks. 
All of these, and many more, couldn't do their part in making a
loaf of bread without the assistance of the thousands who make
farm implements, bread mixers, bread slicers, farm chemicals,
fertilizer, trucks, trains, highways, warehouses, and numerous
other essentials.

     How many people did it take to build the roads and
railroads from the farm to the store?  How many people did it
take to educate and train all those in the supply chain?

     It may seem that some don't serve millions.  Most people
with productive jobs do.  What about a check out clerk?  Does
she serve only her customers?  Many of those customers serve
millions.  Those who serve the servant, also serve those the
servant serves.  Try reading that sentence out loud fast 10 times
without messing up.

     With our busy lives and 24 hour days, How much time
can each of us devote to holding each person making our bread
accountable?  We need time left over to hold the vegetable
growers, microwave makers, auto makers, television makers,
barbers, and a host of others accountable.

     There are 84,600 seconds in a day.  If we tried to devote
one second to holding each person who serves us accountable,
the day would be gone before we even made a good start on our
list.  Faced with the daunting task, many simply give up.  They
say let government do it.  They might as well say, "Let the
accountability fairy do it."

     There is no way even millions of government bureaucrats
can identify, leave alone manage, the billions of people who
serve billions of people.  Yet, unless we are willing to allow
those billions to each serve only himself at the expense of those
who depend on the service, we must have a way to hold our
servants accountable.

     The way must be easy, almost effortless, compared to the
magnitude of the task.  It must be something we can and  will
do.  If we all leave the task to someone else, no one will be
doing it.  There will be no accountability.  Everyone will be free
to serve only himself at the expense of those he is supposed to
serve.

     If we delegate the task to government, we have solved
nothing.  Such delegation only replaces one problem with
another.  The question then becomes, Who will hold those in
government accountable?  You may have noticed that we are
failing miserably in holding government accountable.

     Next time: some roads to accountability.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2013
Albert D. McCallum