What to Do About the Leadership Deficit

According to Dave Walker, former Comptroller of the United States, the forth and most serious deficit in the United States is leadership. How did this happen?

Over the years we have been subconsciously conditioned to stop holding our leaders accountable. We, as a people, have come to expect our business and political leaders to be corrupt and immoral. What was once upon a time unthinkable has become status quo. How?

• A resolution was introduced into the House of Representatives to impeach George W. Bush charging that the President manufactured a false case for the war, violated U.S. and international law to invade Iraq, failed to provide troops with proper equipment, falsified casualty reports for political purposes, that Bush illegally detained without charge both U.S. citizens and "foreign captives", violated numerous U.S. laws through the use of "signing statements" declaring his intention to do so, and failure to comply with congressional subpoenas.

• Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998 by the House of Representatives on grounds of perjury to a grand jury. President Clinton was acquitted of the obstruction charge by a 50 to 50 vote in the Senate.

• There was a Congressional resolution to impeach George H.W. Bush in 1991 charging violations of the Constitution, Federal law, and the U.N. Charter.

• By the end of his term, 138 Ronald “catsup is a vegetable for school children” Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever. The Reagan Administration was also the first to have increased the national debt faster than growth of national income and was the Administration that shifted the bulk of the tax burden from the very wealthy to the middle class. In 1983 there was a resolution to impeach Reagan on charges of an illegal war against Nicaragua, unilaterally starting a war in Grenada, and abuse of power in the Iran arms scandal.

We have not had a President who has not had an impeachment resolution since Jimmy Carter! It has been 27 years since we have had a President with enough integrity not to be charged as a criminal. Good or bad, our nation’s President is a role model. What I don’t get is why Americans aren’t outraged.

Our moral identity has shift so far out of balance Americans have almost forgotten what we are supposed to, as human beings, hold up as a measure of acceptable conduct that ensures our health, wealth, and pursuit of happiness. Our moral identity, the standards by which we define a worthy and acceptable individual, has been corrupted by our leadership and the media we allow to penetrate our culture. Moral self-concepts emerge in young childhood and become self-conscious through middle childhood and into adolescence. In youth and young adulthood, the moral identity integrates and consolidates. None of my children, now 28, 26 and 23, have witnessed a presidency that has not been a daily front page Washington Post scandal. The moral identity embodiments I grew up with of Truth, Justice, and the American Way have give way to greed, glorification of violence, and sexual exploitation of men, women, and children.

The fact is that everyone stands under the moral obligation, including business and political leaders. We as a country have failed to maintain our own sense of accountability to civic duty. We have failed to rebuke those in our community who violate moral, ethical, and legal standards of conduct in a timely manner. We have failed to hold our business and political leaders accountable. If we want this country to remain a democracy, we need to seriously evaluate the strength of our own moral compass, be accountable to and exercise our civic duty, and most importantly, become truly outraged at the irresponsible, immoral, and illegal conduct of our business and political leaders.

In God We Trust