The Basics

I enjoy food. I like fresh air. Rarely able but occasionally, I can smell fresh air and love it, truly love it! Sex is an interest but not much more than that. A beautiful sky lights up my day. Warm and comfortable air temps are noticed and appreciated.

What else do I like and appreciate? Too much to mention here but a lot of things. For you as well, I’m sure. Life has much to like.

Annoyance is present as well in normal daily routines. Waiting for others who are late meeting with me. Traffic congestion even when I plan to avoid it by choice of route and time of travel. Slow wanky drivers irritate me no end. Gloomy weather darkens my mood, always has, even when living in southern California. Living in New England pretty much broke that automatic response, but still, a dark day is a moody one for me.

Much appreciated are things that go well in an organization. We sit in meetings, discuss issues and problems, and come up with solutions. We plan those actions, and they function well. Next time we meet it is noticed that problems have abated, and we are functioning better.

I have worked in public offices. I notice how well we respect our mission and role. We accomplish good things for our clients, our taxpayers and students. I see how much personal dedication and sacrifice is made by colleagues, so the organization accomplishes what we say we are all about. That’s a high for me. And the lows, when viewed as an opportunity to fix and repair and invent new solutions, become highs. I note this is a norm in most public service organizations. This is something the public often does not see.

Sure, there are failures of public institutions, but mostly these are long term issues that need more resources to fix. They are not bad organizations or purposefully inept employees. For the most part, staff are career achievers who experience rewards for a job well done.

I trust public services provided by government. I’ve worked inside some of them and know the challenges they face. One of those challenges is public mistrust and misunderstanding. Too often this is distorted to cast nasty political aspersions. Those are unfair and manipulative.

Recently, tens of thousands of federal employees have been fired as though they are all guilty of ineptness or fraud. Not showing up to work? When? Where’s the data and proof of investigation? How many staff work irregular hours because that is when the public needs their attention? How many work parts of seven days a week, and often provide evening meetings and processing support? How many staffers sacrifice vacations and personal time to get more education and training to help them on the job? Just how many sluggards are there in our government offices compared with truly career oriented professionals? I dare say no one knows the answer to that question, but I suspect many career people populate our public employees at agencies throughout federal, state and local government.

Another thing, the percentage of public employees for a burgeoning population is a declining statistic. More is done with fewer staff than ever before.

I strongly believe that elected officials who are responsible for bureaucracies are the inept ones. The professional staff do amazing work in spite of elected leadership and poor resources. If all of this were privatized, how would any of this change? And who will profit from it and at what cost to taxpayers?

We all have a job to do in holding government accountable. I think this is a problem for the elected officials to answer for. Holding them accountable is job one. Is Congress doing its job? Have they granted the President the power to do what he is doing? Or are they merely looking the other way? And just because republicans have the numbers, is this now all on the democrats to fix? Why isn’t this a problem needing bipartisan solutions?

The recent vote to avoid a government shutdown was not a fault of the democratic leadership. That fault lies firmly with the republicans who allowed it to fester into place in the first instance.

March 21, 2025

 

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