“Bad governments always lie because telling the truth requires honor and courage!” Mehmet Murat ildan
“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men (and women)...” Abe Lincoln
Prediction 4 – Borders matter. There will be an increase in nationalism
I completely missed this one!
I had predicted that “the foolishness of “elite” positions was completely exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic” and forecasted that “faced with a crisis that is literally killing thousands of people, countries will focus on the needs of their citizens.”
That post is here: https://www.projectmanagementforum.net/post/covid-19-my-predictions-part-4-the-fall-of-the-globalist
This was based on the same flawed logic that I applied to my other predictions. I had assumed that “leaders" would look at the facts and make informed decisions, and those decisions would be in the best interests of their constituents. Rather than assume that reasoned decision making would occur, I should have focused on the virtue of the people making decisions.
It never occurred to me that leaders would make decisions that were so wildly unpopular with most of their constituents! In the United States, recent poling revealed that a staggering 84% of the country believes that things are going in the “wrong direction”. 84%! Seriously, how can you get 84% of people to agree to anything? And yet they do.
Yesterday I watched a United States Senator at a rally. He had taken a position that was at odds with his constituents, and as a result there was repeated booing as he tried to speak. Did this cause any introspection on the part of this prominent elected official? Nope. In fact, when he was interviewed later he said that he would not “bow to the mob”!
What?
He went to a rally and heard very clearly that the people he was elected to represent wanted him to take a different position. Rather than reconsider his position, he referred to the people who elected him, the very people to whom he owes his power, as “the mob”.
I consistently missed my Covid-19 predictions because I assumed that leaders at every level would act with virtue and make fact based decisions. While there are many servant leaders who remembered that their responsibility is to those whom they serve, there are many that view their current position as an opportunity to further themselves.
Or maybe it's just incompetence.
My father once told me that if your choice was between a conspiracy and incompetence, pick incompetence very time. As sad as it is, I would like to think that is the answer. But I wonder.
Coda
I try to stay away from politics. In a highly charged political climate, it is unlikely I will change any minds. And why would I want to try? I tried to be balanced with my examples for this post. The statistics clearly belong to the current administration, while the other example was a senator from the other party. Unfortunately, incompetence and a lack of virtue isn’t limited to one political party, leaders in government, or private industry. It is everywhere.