#17 Why Is No One Held Accountable Anymore for Anything?

After celebrating our liberties and freedom this July 4th holiday, I ask myself are we really free?  Do we have the right to come forward and speak the truth?  Do we get rewarded for doing the right thing?  Do our institutions, which have a variety of checks and balances built within their structures, really work, or are they just another arm of some political party/opportunistic self-serving leader?

Workers and others have repeatedly attempted to "blow the whistle" in all ways possible.  The Governor's Office, various Boards and Commissions; various legislators and even the Bureau of State Audits -- all have been put on notice, but to no avail.  Those in positions of authority have done nothing.  Why is that?

The California National Guard saga has been going on for over ten years; others like CalPERS, State Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and most recently CalSTRS --  those did not just happen overnight -- and they are not the only ones. Kathy Carroll, a former CA Commission on Teacher Credentialing attorney, described her former workplace as a "private bureaucratic empire using public funds".  State institutions have become the personal fiefdoms of their leaders. The cronyism and self-dealing are destroying our state departments -- and it appears that no one cares. 

I found it illustrative in the same May 11, 2011, Sacramento Bee article regarding the Teacher Credentialing Commission wherein the Chairwoman Ting Sun stated", "I have never found blaming and shaming to be a constructive way of resolving problems".  Isn't that rich?  It is a perfect way of shifting blame onto the very people who are trying to hold her and her organization accountable.  I have news for you,  Ms. Chairwoman, since you accepted the job and get paid for doing it, you are responsible for your deeds and accountable for your actions/inactions.  Is this really such a novel thought; what did you think you were being paid to do? 

I think Andriana Huffington, in her post of July 29, 2011, hit upon the answer to my "why?" question.  She was discussing Greece and its financial problems (sound familiar?), when she posed a far more important question:  "Can a truly democratic movement break the stranglehold of corrupt elites and powerful anti-democratic institutional forces that have come to characterize not just the politics of Greece, but most Western democracies, including our own?"

Which brings me back to my other question  -- are we really free, and if so, for how long?