Thinking people are livid; disgusted by agencies like ICE and DHS, and by the ongoing acts that “the system” perpetrates against the American people. This reaction is neither controversial nor debatable. It is the natural response to a system that has become unacceptable.
What we are witnessing is not a series of isolated failures; it is the visible output of a system operating with normalized force, lacking accountability and seeking legitimacy without consent. This is leadership failure. Every organization produces exactly what its design allows. When a system repeatedly escalates toward violence, secrecy, and narrative control, it is not malfunctioning. It is performing as engineered.
The Illusion of Leadership
Scripted press conference lines do not reflect leadership. They reveal the quality and standards a system permits when no one is observing, or worse, what it allows when everyone is watching, but leaders choose to ignore it.
Right now, the system is speaking clearly: Your safety is secondary. Your dignity is negotiable. Transparency is optional. This is institutional decay. Power that cannot be questioned is dominance, not leadership. Organizations that resist transparency, shield themselves from scrutiny, and treat oversight as hostility forfeit moral authority. Leaders earn legitimacy through restraint, responsibility, and accountability. Authority that depends on secrecy is already broken.
Leadership Drift
Leadership Drift at scale looks like this:
- Mission replaces morality.
- Procedure replaces judgment.
- Compliance replaces conscience.
- Control replaces stewardship.
Drift happens when leaders stop asking the hardest question: Are we worthy of the authority we hold? Once that question disappears, damage becomes routine. Routine harm is never accidental; it is policy by neglect.
The Myth of “Necessary Force”
A dangerous lie runs through modern institutions: Force equals order. Fear equals control. Escalation equals effectiveness.
This is mythology. Effective leadership does not require constant escalation. It does not hide behind tactical language to justify moral failure. Better leaders build systems that prevent harm, not excuse it. If an operating model produces repeated public trauma, the problem is not a lack of understanding. The problem is the model itself.
Better leadership requires:
- Designing systems to minimize harm.
- Implementing independent, rigorous accountability.
- Removing leaders who fail to protect the public interest.
- Owning outcomes instead of outsourcing blame.
Without accountability, leadership does not exist. There is only power.
Moral Clarity
Neutrality in the face of structural harm is complicity. Leadership that deflects responsibility becomes the problem it claims to manage. Leadership that hides behind systems forfeits the right to lead.
This is a call for accountability. It condemns illegitimate authority and demands moral clarity. Leaders who cannot govern themselves will ultimately lose the right to govern others. The system is failing that standard, and it is doing so exactly as designed.
