Bureaucracy
Your two April 20 articles, one related to lax security at Energy Department laboratories and the other related to the VPOTUS’ [Al Gore’s] sickly attempt at language simplification, have a very important aspect in common: They will both be taken seriously when the people at fault are identified, held responsible and fired. Anything less is just blowing smoke and is sure to be completely ineffectual.
In the real world we understand that you do your job, or else. However, wherever the government steps in, the real world is shut out; the fact that “responsible” comes from the root “to answer for” is quite forgotten and “responsible” comes to mean merely “authorized.”
SIDNEY BROUNSTEIN
Redlands
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