There is a particular kind of frustration that arises when you know something was wrong, yet it seems as though nothing happened.
Most of us understand that life is not always fair. We learn that lesson early in our lives. Sometimes the person who cuts corners gets ahead. Sometimes the person who tells the truth pays a price. Sometimes the person who follows the rules watches someone else ignore them without facing consequence.
That can be difficult to accept. It can be even more difficult when the wrongdoing involves something that is supposed to be bigger than any one person. Something that depends on trust, honesty and a shared commitment to playing by the rules.
Elections are one of those things. Political campaigns can be messy and passionate. Candidates and their supporters can disagree strongly, criticize one another, and make their cases to voters.
That is democracy.
What should concern all of us is when the desire to win outweighs the obligation to be honest. There is a difference between aggressive campaigning and crossing a line. There is a difference between making a political argument and deliberately misleading people. There is a difference between exercising your right to speak and hiding behind anonymity to avoid accountability for what you say.
The problem is not simply the act itself. The greater problem is what happens when people There is a belief that there are no consequences for crossing that line. That is where frustration begins to turn into cynicism.
People start asking a basic question: Why should I follow the rules when someone else can break them and apparently benefit? That question should bother all of us. Our society depends on millions of people making small decisions every day to do what is right, even when no one is watching.
We pay what we owe. We tell the truth. We keep our commitments. We follow the rules. We take responsibility when we make a mistake. We do those things because we understand that a functioning society requires a certain level of trust.
When that trust is broken, rebuilding it is not easy. It is especially difficult when people see someone seemingly escape accountability after doing something they know was wrong. That feeling can be incredibly personal.
It can make someone who has always tried to do the right thing wonder whether it is worth it. I think that is where we need to be careful. We cannot allow someone else’s lack of integrity to become an excuse for our own. We cannot allow another person’s willingness to cut corners to convince us that the rules no longer matter. We cannot let disappointment turn into indifference.
Accountability is not about revenge. It is not about wanting someone to suffer because we are angry with them. Accountability is about preserving the standards that allow everyone else to trust the system. Rules are only meaningful when they apply to everyone.
Truth is only meaningful when we expect it from everyone. Integrity is only meaningful when we practice it, even when it is inconvenient.
There will always be people who believe the ends justify the means.
There will always be people who convince themselves that what they are doing is acceptable because their cause is important enough. There will always be people who believe they are smarter than the system. That does not mean the rest of us have to accept it.
One of the greatest mistakes we can make is believing that getting away with something means someone was right to do it. It does not. Sometimes there are consequences we see. Sometimes there are consequences we never see.
Sometimes accountability comes through a courtroom, a ballot box, or an official investigation. Sometimes it comes in the form of the loss of someone’s reputation or the trust of people who once believed in them. Sometimes, unfortunately, we never see the consequences.
That does not make the behavior right.
It simply means we have to decide what kind of people we will be when we witness it. Are we going to shrug and say, “That’s just the way things are?” Are we going to continue believing that honesty, fairness, and personal responsibility matter?
I choose the latter, not because I believe every wrong will be corrected, nor because I believe every person who does something wrong will be held accountable. I believe it because the alternative is far worse.
The alternative is a society where people stop caring about the rules because they no longer believe the rules are worth following. That is a dangerous place to be.
We should be frustrated when wrongdoing goes unaddressed. We should question systems that fail to ensure accountability. We should expect better from the institutions we trust, but we should also remember something important.
Someone else’s decision to do the wrong thing does not diminish the value of doing the right thing. It does not make integrity foolish. It does not make honesty a weakness. It does not make accountability unnecessary. It simply makes those things more important.
When one believes the system is broken, the most powerful response is not to become part of what is broken. It is to keep expecting better. Keep demanding accountability. Keep telling the truth. Keep putting your name behind what you believe. Keep doing the right thing, even when you are frustrated by the people who don’t.
That may not always feel like justice, but it is how we keep from losing something far more important than an argument, an election, or a single battle. We keep our integrity. Sometimes, that is the one thing nobody can take from us.
(Erikka Storch is a former 13-year member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, and the former president of the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce.)
