Just about all of us have had to work for somebody else during our lives. Some of us have even been the boss. Bosses have to make decisions and those under them are generally obligated to obey and follow those directions. 

Now I don’t know about your experience as the boss but in mine I made a few stupid decisions and came to regret them. The best employees were the ones with courage who would take the risk of warning you that your particular decision was wrong. They were worth their weight in gold.

When I was a young Captain in the army commanding a cavalry troop I had the best First Sergeant you could ask for. If I gave orders that were not well considered, he would quietly call me to the side and strongly suggest an alternate solution. He always emphasized that he would follow my orders but that I might consider the consequences that he could see.

Later in life when I worked in the corporate world I tried to mirror what First Sergeant Dickerson modeled for me. There were a few occasions when I went to see my boss where I closed the door and cautioned him about a decision that he had made. There were a couple of times that I had my resignation in my pocket just in case.

Even in the military you are not obliged to follow an illegal order. The consequences of disobedience in civilian life are not nearly so stark. But you can quickly lose your job and, even worse, you can become known as a chronic troublesome employee. 

The same issue exists in the political world. It is most acute in the executive branch.

President Trump is the boss of that branch. He makes decisions. He makes his decisions quickly and that ability has brought him success in business. I hope and pray that he has strong subordinates around him that have courage to advise him and make him consider things he cannot see. 

But at the end of the day, he is the leader and he needs subordinates that will execute his orders and not try and undermine him in his duties of office. In my opinion, his real problem is that the executive branch has those in it that will not follow his instructions but will actively work to disobey. Worse yet is that their disobedience will be hidden from sight because those that are disobedient do not have the courage to go to him and lay their views openly. They are the cowards of our time and they do the country a great harm.

Gary Pichon

Marble Hill