Playing by the rules

What do DPD Officer Robert Powell and the financial markets have in common? A stunning lack of personal responsibility and common sense.

Rather than rely on their own common sense of decency and right and wrong, they rely exclusively on rules made by others to justify their actions. It is not wrong for them to do this, It is what we as a society have been emphasizing for at least the last half century.

In a story in today's Dallas Morning News, these two paragraph at the end stand out:

When questioned by commanders facing increasing public outrage, Powell, who has been a Dallas officer for three years, told his superiors he felt he did nothing wrong in the Moats traffic stop.

According to several Dallas police officers, many young officers share Powell's assessment of the incident. Seasoned officers who have seen the video, including most members of the command staff, said they were aghast and embarrassed at Powell's conduct.

Clearly, the younger generation of cops see Powell's actions justified by both the letter of the law and their job description. Their superiors and veteran cops see it a bit differently. Who is right? Well, I kmow that I would rather encounter one of the veterans.

Most of us think that bankers making subprime housing loans used questionable judgement (well, I'm sure the loan applicants didn't see it that way) but the bankers were just following the rules and guidelines in force at that time. Still, if it were my money at risk, I would rather see common sense rule the day.

In any game, the players have to follow the rules, but when the rules change over time, sometimes the change takes place before the rulebook is reprinted, When different players are unwittingly playing by different sets of rules, keeping score can be the least of their worries and survival becomes the name of the game.