ABSTRACT
The language of legitimacy and authority is abstract. People rarely discuss these ideas explicitly in the course of daily affairs. But they do, in fact, talk about them. A lot. Both concepts are subsumed in a word amorphous enough to encompass them both, and then some. The word, of course, is accountability, and it has become a catch-all for all that is good in administration and governance. One can never have too much accountability. No one will ever be criticized for excessive emphasis on accountability. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, Big Enders and Little Enders, all can agree that accountability is a good thing, worthy of our attention and pursuit.
