Naked Capitalism has the article Obama’s Nominee for the VA, Robert McDonald, Former P&G CEO, Should be Held Accountable for Unethical Pharma Study.

While Mr McDonald held high executive positions at Procter and Gamble, the company was involved in a dodgy affair involving conflicts of interest, manipulation of research, and attempted silencing of whistle blowers. In my humble opinion, given that these events occurred directly on his watch, his fitness to run a huge health care system ought to be in question unless his responsibility for these events is disproved.

Where do we find such people to appoint to high offices of trust?  What McDonald is supposed to fix in the VA is very similar to what went on at Procter and Gamble even while he was in charge.  So they fire Shinseki and bring in a guy who made all the same mistakes and never admitted to them nor apologized for them.

Is there any leader in the public or private sector that doesn’t make a habit of shady practices, cutting corners, and suppressing dissent?  Is this just human nature to do these things?  If so, what can we do to protect society from this?

Actually, the problem might originate in how we are brought up in this country.  I don’t know how wide spread this is in the world.  Our parents or aunts and uncles probably had a hand in teaching us that it is not nice to be a tattle-tale.  Perhaps this is where people get the idea that it is right to suppress dissent.