It isn't every day you get to read an article from another country that pinpoints the problem across all of Western Civilization.
As I witness entire classes of people who slam on the brakes when a pedestrian is with in yards of a sidewalk, I'm struck by the fact that far too many Americans are now acting like frightened rabbits and/or overcautious cowards.
Whether it is the stifling soccer-mom helmeting and strapping us to their fearful worldview, onerous "Sarbanes-Oxley" regulations stifling corporate innovation, or ossified politicians unable to promote reasonable refroms, fear seems to be the overriding cause of our actions.
Don't Panic - or our culture of caution will be the death of us
Risk aversion is now an illness, an Orwellian poison permeating the public sector and making cowards of us all. The liberal is as guilty as the authoritarian. The rush to more egalitarian and open government has not increased trust in government, merely a torrent of statistics and spin.
As the philosopher of risk, Onora O’Neill, once warned, too much openness can be the enemy of trust. “Perhaps we should not be surprised,” she said, “that the technologies that spread information so easily are just as good at spreading misinformation” — and with misinformation, distrust.
Saddle any profession with too much intrusion and oversight and it will lose confidence in its own judgments. The public will lose confidence in them too. If anything, said O’Neill, trust recedes as transparency advances. This now applies across the public sector.
When confronted with necessary change, the corrupt forces of the status quo ask "But what if X, Y, or Z happens?" It's time to forget about "X, Y, or Z." The slow death of stagnation is happening now.
