By Jabir Deralla

Before surrendering another hour of your attention to today’s news cycle, pause and read this text. This is not another contribution to the daily mockery of political leaders and senior public officials, nor an attempt at personalized judgment. It is about something broader and deeper: the responsibility that comes with public office.

For decades, I have watched politicians and entire structures of power behave in ways that are irresponsible, destructive, and devoid of any real sense of the weight of public office. Often this behavior is absurd, grotesque, and—yes—ridiculous. But its consequences are never funny.

This text addresses that phenomenon—not one individual, but a pattern. I am confident that readers from both democratic and less democratic parts of the world will recognize elements of these patterns in their own countries.

Public office is not a personal achievement. It is not a badge to be worn, not a fashion runway for photo sessions, and not a stage for improvisation and vanity. It is a responsibility—heavy, delicate, and unavoidably public.

The highest offices of the state carry the greatest responsibility. Not only legal or institutional, but moral and symbolic as well. Every word spoken, every gesture made, every public appearance by a president or senior official becomes part of a country’s political discourse—and part of its public image. There is no such thing as “just a remark,” no harmless anecdote, no private spontaneity once one steps onto the public stage as a representative of the state.

This is why a boundary exists—and a necessary balance—between inevitable personal expression and style on the one hand, and public responsibility on the other. That boundary must always be clear, and every public appearance must be understood as a historical record that must be defensible.

It makes no difference whether a domestic or international event is influential or marginal, serious or ceremonial. What matters is that when a head of state or government speaks, it is not the appearance of a private individual, nor of a university professor. Least of all should it resemble the performance of a casual commentator.

Senior public officials speak on behalf of the citizens they represent. The dignity of office does not fluctuate with the size or importance of the audience. Responsibility is not conditional.

Academic seminars and scholarly symposia allow experimentation—even eccentricity, even self-embarrassment. Public office does not. A professor may afford intellectual playfulness or personal anecdotes. A head of state cannot. When that boundary is crossed, the damage is not personal—it is collective.

This is not a matter of elitism or formalism. It is a matter of awareness and conscience. Awareness that words shape perceptions. That symbolism carries weight. That public trust is fragile—especially in societies strained by economic insecurity, social fatigue, and democratic backsliding.

And this is where decency enters the conversation.

Decency in politics is not a decorative virtue. It is functional. It means knowing when—and what—not to say. Understanding context. Respecting the intelligence and dignity of citizens who struggle every day with low wages, rising prices, and diminishing hope—while watching their representatives travel the world at public expense, insulated and elevated above the consequences of their own policies and practices.

And those consequences always begin and end with words spoken on a public stage—domestic or international, it makes no difference.

When leaders display frivolity, they normalize irresponsibility. When they trivialize public appearances, they trivialize public trust. And when they treat office as performance, they teach society that politics is spectacle rather than responsibility.

This problem is not confined to one individual, one office, or one country. It is systemic. Across different political systems, we increasingly see leaders who lack a basic sense of decency, awareness, and conscience—leaders who confuse media visibility with relevance, presence with substance, and symbolism with empty narrative. Those are leaders who speak without thinking, travel without purpose, and govern without empathy—along with the members of their cabinets.

The result is the degradation of public office and political discourse. A public sphere emptied of seriousness. A widening gap between institutions and a public sinking into ever deeper silence. Cynicism replaces trust, apathy extinguishes engagement, and mockery destroys accountability.

What I describe here is by no means harmless, however grotesque it may appear. When public office is privatized and treated as a game or a performance, it accelerates the corrosion of democracy.

Those who believe that democracy and democratic institutions collapse only through coups or pressure from authoritarian and oligarchic forces are mistaken—though that, too, is real. Democracy also erodes through negligence, arrogance, and the gradual normalization of unserious leadership. When the highest officials behave as though the rules of responsibility do not apply to them, the message sent to society is devastating: nothing truly matters.

And precisely the opposite is true.

Political leaders are custodians, not owners, of power. Their legitimacy derives from the public—including those who did not vote for them. Their conduct shapes political culture long after their mandates end. And their words echo far beyond the rooms in which they are spoken.

Political leaders—whether in power or in opposition—must understand this once and for all. At least those who wish to be remembered on the brighter pages of history. Office demands restraint, seriousness, and a clear sense of the boundary between the personal and the public. Without that awareness, no political or state authority can repair the damage done.

In times of poverty, war, insecurity, and democratic backsliding across many parts of the world, citizens do not demand perfection. They demand responsibility. They demand decency. And they are right to expect those who speak in their name to understand the weight of their conduct and their words.

Anything less is not merely shameful.
It is irresponsible.

Jabir Deralla (pen name of Xhabir M. Deralla) is a journalist, political and hybrid-warfare analyst, and civil society leader based in North Macedonia.

This opinion article is adapted for an international audience from a text originally published in Macedonian on CivilMedia.mk. The adaptation was prepared by the author with editorial assistance from OpenAI (ChatGPT).

© 2026 Jabir Deralla. Published by CIVIL. All rights reserved.
The views expressed are solely those of the author.