Martin Luther King: Can Democracy Work Without Knowledge and Competency

public officials are the only professionals in our society who (a) don't need to be certified for knowledge, competence and character and (b) don't need to maintain their education about legislation and law enforcement.

By Neil Garfield
Livinglies's Weblog

I get lots of complaints (I call it whining) about the state of our laws and the lack of enforcement. It constantly happens, especially in the lending marketplace, with fake loans, fake foreclosures, and fake collections. Everyone is doing it because it is just too good to pass up. Our social media society has decided to address this issue, which is as old as societies in human history. They approach it by complaining about the failures (real and perceived) of others rather than doing something themselves.

I conceded that there is a good basis for feeling disempowered. But I insist that we should not give in to that feeling. And as the various major course corrections in our laws and justice have shown, things change only by mass actions by the public. Lyndon Johnson wanted to be the president known for passing laws guaranteeing civil rights, but he knew he couldn't do it alone. So he told Martin Luther King, "Make me do it!"

The question is not what the law says. The question should be, "who will enforce the law?" Since the federal agencies are not doing it, we are left with two options:

1. Mount a public campaign to force agencies to pay attention to blatant violations of law.
2. Pursue aggressive litigation against the fraudsters.
Either way it costs a lot of money. Agencies are made up of people who can be persuaded just as judges can be persuaded (although everyone or nearly everyone says I am wrong). My experience is that if you stick with it and play by the rules, you can turn the judge's head.
The same might be true for agency personnel. But you have a problem with the agencies. Almost everyone who goes into public agencies is there as a stepping stone to the private sector. That means they are auditioning for a job with the companies entrusted with the power to regulate. The revolving door is not illegal, so that law needs to be changed. Complaining about it won't change anything --- unless everyone does it.
But the other problem is that public officials are the only professionals in our society who (a) don't need to be certified for competence and character and (b) don't need to maintain their education about legislation and law enforcement. Everyone else, from hairdressers to surgeons, must at least meet minimum standards of competence. THAT needs to be changed to include public officials regardless of whether they are appointed or elected.
Martin Luther King could have passed any test that grilled him on how government works and how it is intended to work under the absolute requirements of the U.S. Constitution. I would wager that the person(s) who shot him could not have passed that test.
King knew and said that depriving anyone of a proper education in civics would leave them at a severe disadvantage in navigating the legal system and even life in general. But under the auspices of those who believe that an educated voter is their worst enemy, education has been stripped away, decade by decade, eliminating the key components that teach knowledge, competent thinking, and moral action.
Education is not an expense, as anyone knows who has had the benefit. It is an investment in the future of our society. The only cost associated with education is the failure to provide it. It leads to people who don't know enough to do what is necessary. Then we rely on those people to do their jobs and complain about them when they don't.
Financial education should start young such that even the youngest people would understand that the world of business consists of many people who have set out to trick them. They need to learn that when it is too good to be true, then it isn't true.
Regulators and law enforcement would know the same thing. I can spot a scam merely by skimming newspapers. Anyone offering a 16% return "guaranteed" in a market where the highest average return is 5% is operating a Ponzi scheme. Yes, it IS that simple. But every successful con man will tell you the same thing: they only set the stage. The con is completed by the mark. It is not stopped by law enforcement until the damage is done.

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