Like I tell my boys at the J.O.B.: if’n ya fuck up, OWN IT. Shit’s gonna suck for a bit, but the respect you gain by owning up to it will balance in the end. (so long as no one died, right?) I’ve seen time and time again since I started paying attention to politics, the left side ALWAYS points the fingers,,, never ever looking at those three fingers pointed back at themselves. — Dio of the Workshop
Better advice has seldom (if ever) been dispensed. It echoes managerial advice from Robert C. Townsend: “Admit your mistakes openly, maybe even joyfully.” The admission of his mistakes by the person who makes them has several benefits:
- First of all, the mistake gets fixed.
- Second, it humanizes the boss to his subordinates.
- Third, it presents a model for emulation to those subordinates.
- Fourth, it averts the terrible, corrosive hunt for a scapegoat.
Not bad, eh? Simply saying “Hey, I blundered. Looky here!” has incredible power both to teach and to heal. That’s more than merely amazing. It’s a commentary on our time, especially on the pervasive vanity and self-exculpation reflex of public figures.
Politicians and pundits on the Left have formed a “circular firing squad” over the loss of the 2024 elections. No one wants to face the facts. Everyone wants to “find” the fatal error in someone else’s garden. It’s not just unattractive; it’s self-limiting. How can the Democrats do better next time if they’re consumed by the hunt for a scapegoat?
But the moral isn’t just for the Left. It applies to the Right, as well.
Donald Trump won the presidential election – which at this time appears to have been conducted to a much more honest standard than the previous one – because American voters preferred what they saw and heard of him. That’s all! Any attempt by the Right to credit “messaging” or “conservative influencers,” or on the Left to blame “stupid voters,” or “conspiracy theories,” or “the Right-wing media ecosystem” distracts from that simple recognition of cause.
In truth, this is kindergarten stuff. Adults should not need to be told something so self-evident… but there are some mighty tall toddlers in national politics.
A brief tangent: As I’ve said on other occasions, there was a time when Democrats and Republicans agreed on the ideals to be upheld and pursued. They differed not on goals but on the best methods for achieving them. That changed some time in the past fifty years. It’s not too strong to say that a great part of the Democrat Party’s leadership, particularly its ideological vanguard, has become un-American in its aims. In a proud and patriotic nation such as this, was that likely to go unrecognized for long, much less to win the allegiance of the American electorate?
But that, too, involves humbly admitting to a mistake and working to correct it.
