We moderns tell ourselves that while the ancients were transparently and strongly dominated by elites, we hold our leaders far more accountable, such as via law, media, and democracy.
“We don’t expect leaders to post bonds they forfeit if not keep promises.“
When we create government programs, we need a process of asking those endorsing it and running it to commit to actual results, and to put personal skin in the outcome.
I also would like more accountability, though I think more-often of accountability for legislation (measuring its impact seems more-important and more-useful to me, as it is easier to measure, and easier to respond to, because a piece of legislation is a finer-grain unit than a legislator). But we should realize there would be negative effects as well, owing to the fact that we can't know in advance what metrics are most-important. Just for example, if a President runs on lowering inflation, but discovers in the middle of his presidency that Iran is about to complete its first nuclear weapons, he shouldn't be held more-accountable for inflation than for how he deals with Iran.
The Weakest President Ever: Donald J. Trump Inflation Numbers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/top-stocks/new-inflation-data-offers-terrible-news-for-president-donald-trump-s-economy-and-the-ai-driven-bull-market/ar-AA2hpuHi?uxmode=ruby&ctsrc=dgst&ocid=edgntpruby&pc=U531&cvid=6af88f04e3d942569e095d7fb14cc636&ei=12
, and Trump is to damn dumb to know any better.
Recency bias is potent, no question.
Dumb people use ‘to’ when they mean ‘too’; otoh, slapdash people don’t check the words they type.
And I don’t even like Trump.
So I'm not only commenting on disagreements, this seems eminently correct.
I really like this one…
“We don’t expect leaders to post bonds they forfeit if not keep promises.“
When we create government programs, we need a process of asking those endorsing it and running it to commit to actual results, and to put personal skin in the outcome.
I also would like more accountability, though I think more-often of accountability for legislation (measuring its impact seems more-important and more-useful to me, as it is easier to measure, and easier to respond to, because a piece of legislation is a finer-grain unit than a legislator). But we should realize there would be negative effects as well, owing to the fact that we can't know in advance what metrics are most-important. Just for example, if a President runs on lowering inflation, but discovers in the middle of his presidency that Iran is about to complete its first nuclear weapons, he shouldn't be held more-accountable for inflation than for how he deals with Iran.