We have an authority problem, in our culture, and worldwide.
In fact, the whole twentieth century was an exploration of different forms of governmental authority, in many painful attempts at solving the authority problem. Various people in our world went through a number of “-isms,” “-cracies,” and “-archies:” fascism, communism, socialism, totalitarianism, democracy, theocracy, plutocracy, monarchy, oligarchy, and, of course, anarchy.
The essential problem is this: if I give you authority over me, as my government, my boss, my teacher, how do I know you are going to do a good job with it? How do I know that you will use the authority in such a way that I will actually benefit from it?
If I am going to be a safe and productive person in my community, I need people in authority to take care of criminals, plow the snow, allow me to communicate by “snail mail,” put out fires, defend my country, make laws, challenge unfair laws, and so forth. I work at a university, so I need people who will run the university and make sure it is funded so I can do my job of teaching.
That's really the purpose of authority-it is supposed to be of benefit. The problem is, to whom?
The kind of authority which we bestow upon each other-you are my pastor, you are my boss, you are a police officer in my precinct, you are my governor, you are my senator-has an essential trap in it for the unwary: it can very easily be used to benefit the holder of authority at the expense of those beneath that authority.
We have all sorts of laws that are supposed to prevent the misuse of authority. That's why, for example, we have background checks on anyone who wants to be a teacher. We don't want pedophiles in our classrooms.
Yet we are completely unable to legislate how people use authority. We still have abusive teachers in the classroom, selfish senators in the legislature, rogue cops on the street, religious leaders who attempt to control all aspects of their flock's lives, corrupt CEO's, bribe-taking judges and bribe-giving lawyers.
Why? Because what controls how we use Positional Authority (see Juanita Price) are the characteristics we possess as individuals.
If I am a mature person, I'm going to be a good user of authority. I'm going to be a good judge or welfare worker or doctor or nursing home administrator or teacher because I know that other people exist, that other people have rights that are the same as mine, that what hurts me is likely to hurt other people, that it is wrong to hurt others, that what I give out is likely to come back to me, that my job is to use my authority in a way that benefits the people over whom I have authority.
So, if I am a judge, I try to discern how justice may be served, even if serving justice causes me extra work or some other kind of not so fun event. People benefit-victims and even criminals-when true justice is served rather than the charade that sometimes takes place in our courthouses.
If I am a teacher, I am concerned that my students learn. I work hard to make sure that what I teach is relevant to their lives and that the ways I teach address the ways they learn. I may go far beyond the boundaries of my actual job in order to help a student because no matter what subject I teach, I am actually teaching people.
If I am the manager of a store, I do my best to help employees find satisfaction in their jobs and to advance in the corporation, if that is what a good employee wants to do. I try to create schedules that are humane and if the corporation won't provide material benefits, then I create intangible benefits such as a pleasant and fair work environment. I advocate on behalf of my employees to my corporation even if that means taking some risks with my own reputation among the higher ups.
If I am the CEO of a large corporation, I keep clean books and am honest with the people beneath me and my stock holders. I choose to focus on the long term global, social, and financial benefits of running an ethical business that benefits my community over the short term financial-only “benefits” of focusing solely on the bottom line.
In other words, if I am an ethical person in a position of authority, I can see other people's perspectives and I have the self-discipline to do the right thing even when that might be inconveniencing to me or even extremely difficult for me.
In contrast, a self-centered, immature person does…what we see on the television news every day at all levels of society, from Hollywood to Washington, D.C., and all points in between. Criminal acts, bullying, violence, cheating, lying, deceiving, meanness, out of control behavior, public indecency, and so forth.
Legislation, rule books, written procedures, guidelines, and so forth can go only so far because where the rubber meets the road in terms of ethical authority lies in the gray areas between the various regulations. Attitude cannot be legislated or determined by any other person than the holder of the attitude. I can have a bad, selfish attitude and still meet all of your requirements-because I can fake a good attitude when I need to. That way I get to hold onto the authority that benefits ME.
Therefore…we desperately need GROWNUPS to be in charge.
