Being a cop is hard, and even harder when all police are tarred with the brush of isolated cops who abuse public trust. But it’s hard to fix this problem when police chiefs lack the authority to hold bad cops accountable.

Accountability is an essential element of any functioning organization. In this essay in American Purpose, Philip Howard describes how a distorted concept of individual rights — shielding cops and other public employees from accountability — undermines the rights of everyone else. Democracy is largely vestigial because the people we elect, and their appointees such as police chiefs, no longer have authority to manage public employees or hold them accountable.

The solution is a framework that honors the judgment of supervisors, and safeguards against unfairness with oversight committees composed of co-workers and other stakeholders. Accountability is the keel that keeps democracy on course.

• Philip discussed President Biden's infrastructure proposal on the Gridlock Break podcast from No Labels.

• To commemorate their 300th episode, the How Do We Fix It? podcast revisited 6 interviews, including Philip's first conversation with them on clearcutting bureaucratic kudzu.