Leadership Quote by Don Young

Blame is the easiest bipartisan currency, and Don Young is calling it what it is: a habit that keeps power comfortable and accountability optional. “One of our biggest problems” frames finger-pointing not as a single scandal or a bad news cycle, but as infrastructure - a systemic reflex baked into how institutions and voters manage guilt. The repetition of “fault” does the work of a gavel: plain, blunt, a little weary. No poetry, no policy jargon, just the moral math most politicians avoid because it implicates everyone in the room.

Young’s intent reads less like a sermon than a diagnosis from someone who has watched crises turn into PR contests. The subtext is a critique of both governance and political culture: when “somebody else” is always responsible, no one has to change behavior, spend political capital, or admit miscalculation. It’s also a defensive move, in the best sense - a way to yank the conversation away from partisan scorekeeping toward self-scrutiny. That posture is rare in a profession built on locating villains.

Context matters because Young, a long-serving Alaska congressman, spent decades in the churn of federal blame games: Washington vs. states, regulators vs. industry, parties vs. parties. Coming from that world, the line carries an insider’s fatigue. It’s not naive; it’s an admission that the incentives are rigged toward scapegoats. The power of the quote is that it doesn’t offer a villain to boo - it offers a mirror, and dares a system addicted to deflection to hold it up.