The little south-central town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, got its name after selling out to a popular quiz show in 1950.

Formerly named "Hot Springs," T or C, as it's now known, changed its name to gain recognition (and a few tourism dollars) for its coffers. By being willing to change its name, it won the rights to have the 10th anniversary program of the national T.V. show of the same name broadcast from this unassuming burg of 6,000 souls.

This isn't the first time a name has been sold or an identity changed. It happens all the time, all over the country, but to my knowledge this is the first time that the sale of a name had real world consequences. While the town got some publicity, it never really struck pay dirt to become a rip-roaring tourism destination.

Real world consequences are something that Americans have been pretty good at dodging, and that goes for politicians, captains of industry, university professors, school boards, you name it. We seem to have a fixed extended index finger pointed in somebody else's direction whenever a catastrophe strikes. Corporate and governmental PR 'damage control' teams are immediately called in to clean up our messes like all those companies specializing in hazardous waste remediation. First comes the minimization and/or dismissal of the issue whatever it is. (For a brilliant comedic explanation of this, log on to a YouTube video of George Carlin speaking at the National Press Club in 1999).

Next, if the press won't let go of the story, the perpetrators will distance themselves from responsibility possibly by claiming that it occurred while they were either away from their post or that it occurred in some far-flung part of their company or agency.

Third, if this doesn't do the trick, the offenders will blame somebody else, usually the competition or the opposition for making a "mountain out of a molehill" and fabricating the facts. Some even ignore the criticism and hope it will go away or stonewall any fact-gathering or media contact, whatsoever. This has proven to be a failed strategy in many cases. Think Watergate: "I am not a crook." Or what about the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal: "I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky," the Afghanistan retreat debacle and Gen. Mark Milley's testimony at Congress yesterday or our border crisis which is still brewing?

The list goes on, through the past up to the present day, but that hasn't deterred men (and a few women) in power from delaying the inevitable. On that subject, Henry Kissinger had a tip: "If it's going to come out eventually, it's better to have it come out immediately."

But, as human beings - especially American human beings -- we live inside a protective bubble of hope that surrounds us. We know that sooner or later, the media will drop our story and move on to something else like a pack of wild hyenas on the savannah seeking new prey. So we wait and we wait, and sure enough, in many cases, the public's appetite is satiated and they eventually push themselves away from the groaning board of scandals to leave us to clean up our mess, free from their prying eyes. This, however, is the critical moment for those pursuing an issue upon which to pounce.

When the offending party feels comfortable and safe, they let down their guard and make it possible for us to find the truth. Sometimes this takes months and years, and sometimes even generations, especially if the cover-up is extensive and the parties involved are particularly vulnerable. In that case, we head for the courts and spend our money and time in the system.

There is one problem with that, however. The system tends to protect itself like the HAL9000 computer in the movie, "2001, A Space Odyssey" did when its ability to control its surroundings was challenged.

In Washington, D.C. and all around the country, powerful people circle the wagons and put on their Kevlar vests and gird their loins for battle when threatened. And, more often than not, we allow them to slip through the cracks of accountability because the system is either too Byzantine, too costly, or too time-consuming for us to pursue them in -- or out of -- court.

Guilty officials are allowed to resign, retire, or are pardoned without punishment. Seldom is anyone ever fired or held to task. Remember the IRS targeting of conservative groups overreach scandal of 2013? The then-IRS director was allowed to resign.

Fast forward to the current total meltdown at our Southern border. Was Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reprimanded by the administration for his handling of the border? Nope. Yes, he was impeached by the Congress, but he wears that like a badge of courage in "staying the administration's course." How could all these people get away without so much as a clutch at their pearls when they are unquestionably complicit in these debacles?

The answer is good crisis management and extensive extended culpability. The equation is simple: the more people you involve, the more you dilute your own responsibility, and that's one of the keys to managing a successful crisis or scandal -- always involve other, more powerful people with something to lose. By doing that, you can get a "get out of jail free" card and can save your job (or pension). In order to be really successful, however, you must have an insurance policy which could involve the leaking of a few choice documents, possibly implicating a third party (again, preferably the opposition) to the press.

Oh, and one more thing: if we must make an apology, it's essential that we choose the quasi-apologetic word "regret" like Joe Biden recently did when asked if he should not have said the word "illegal" when referring to an illegal alien who allegedly killed a young college girl.

When did we become a nation of cowards who are unwilling to take responsibility for our actions? I'm afraid that I cannot pinpoint a moment in time because we've been at it for so long. All I know is that we are living in a society that appears to be bereft of any modicum of blame and doesn't seem to value accountability, or if it does, it sees it as something that is negotiable and fungible.

Stephan Helgesen is a retired career U.S. diplomat who lived and worked in 30 countries for 25 years during the Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Clinton, and G.W. Bush Administrations. He is the author of fourteen books, six of which are on American politics and has written over 1,300 articles on politics, economics and social trends. He operates a political news story aggregator website: www.projectpushback.com. He can be reached at: stephan@stephanhelgesen.com.

Image: RawPixel // CC0 public domain