In a few professions, the highest standards of competence are paramount to life and death. But in most professions, jobs, and work environments, a credential — usually unverified by competence — is the standard. This past year has shown us that people die when incompetent people who are credentialed rule the roost, and when the standard is set so low that incompetent authorities can emptily continue in the marked footsteps of preceding officials. Incompetence must be voted out. It must be fired. It must be reformed.