Redirection is the first refuge of the incompetent

From years ago. The Bloomberg Syndrome by Victor Davis Hanson.

It is a human trait to focus on cheap and lofty rhetoric rather than costly, earthy reality. It is a bureaucratic characteristic to rail against the trifling misdemeanor rather than address the often-dangerous felony. And it is political habit to mask one’s own failures by lecturing others on their supposed shortcomings. Ambitious elected officials often manage to do all three.

The result in these hard times is that our elected sheriffs, mayors, and governors are loudly weighing in on national and global challenges that are quite often out of their own jurisdiction, while ignoring or failing to solve the very problems that they were elected to address.

Quite simply, the next time your elected local or state official holds a press conference about global warming, the Middle East, or the national political climate, expect to experience poor county law enforcement, bad municipal services, or regional insolvency.

Ain't that the truth. Redirection is the first refuge of the incompetent.

The Mandarin Class are always on about human trafficking, anthropogenic global warming, diversity, segregation, income inequality, etc. And there are some real issues lurking out there that are marginally related to that blathering. But it is just blathering. They are trying to talk about something else other than pot-holed roads, crime, poor performing schools, administrative bloat, badly administered universities, etc.

They want to talk about the abstract which they do not have the authority to address instead of talking about their failures to address that which they do have the authority to address.