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Friday, May 28, 2010

Organizational ineptitude

Just who is in charge of our federal government these days? A pattern of behavior is what prompts the question. And as much as I may oppose a lot of the demonstrated politics in our federal government these days, I also want our federal government to succeed for the sake of the country as a whole.

That I am trying to even believe that the questions must be asked is worrisome. Again, there is a pattern of behavior that seems to keep repeating, or worse, compounding on itself. This suggests many more future and bigger problems that many in our federal government may not be up to solving, or even trying to solve in a helpful way.

Here’s some questions I do not know the answer to. And in doing so I know to resist trying to use psycho-babble to analyze intents. Analyzing capabilities is a much easier and more realistic task.

At the executive level:

1. Is the President in-charge, or those very close friends who he brought into the government with him?
2. Do the czars run the executive through delegation, or do the Cabinet Secretaries? Now blaming each other is so common a gambit for those who really don’t know what authority they have. Only the boss can say.
3. Do the czars have spending authority, or does the Congress still control the purse strings?
4. Do words still matter? All government people still take the oaths that they swear to as “for real?
5. Do most people in the federal government still believe in the rule of law? And do most people in the federal government still believe in enforcing federal laws that have been passed by our legislature and signed by our president. As a variation of the preceding questions, do most people in the federal government’s executive branch know they are obligated to uphold the laws?
6. Can anyone be held accountable in the executive these days? Of course the question assumes there is some level below the periodic vote that counts. A loosely held committee type governing means invites this question. In a government of humans, there is always a need for accountability and “head knocking”.

At the legislative level:

1. How many legislators still feel ties to their constituency in guiding their votes? Said another way, do the voters still count during a term of office. Now legislators have always had ways to connect back to their home base, and they still exist.
2. How many legislators have stronger loyalties to their party than to their constituents?
3. How much influence do the hired minions, usually called “staffers”, have in any legislator’s office? If the influence is great, do the staffers even bother to “read the bill”? One hopes someone “reads the bill” before a vote is recommended and then counted! That this is a question suggests a sad state of affairs.
4. Other than the vote, is there any way, other than crisis, to hold people accountable? Does past failure to uphold laws and the rules that come from these laws usually mean new laws, vice just applying the present laws with teeth?

At the federal bureaucracy level:

1. What percentage of people get fired or failed for their job performance? After all, trying to implement (write and then implement rules from) very long laws like the health care law is a difficult job, and some do better than others.
2. Have our federal civil service laws and rules made performance secondary?
3. Are many astonished at the performance bonuses so many civil service employees gain annually?
4. Just how are federal buereacrats hired into their positions? And what percentage get fired or relieved, like in the rest of the world?
5. Just how many fellow Americans manipate the present system to where it is easier to get one federal employee promoted away and above their compentency, than to get them fired? I've done it! And I did it based on advice from my boss.

At the moral level:

1. Can a “gift for words” be a qualifier for elected office? When people are cold and hungry, will words and good intentions count, both for those cold and hungry, and those who use a "gift for words"?
2. Does “lying” become a moral qualifier? If not, are voters worried that if they elect a known liar, then they may suffer?
3. Is saying one thing and doing another, a smart political strategy, or a personality defect?
4. Is charity a government taxpayer funded responsibility, as in police and fire protection, clean water, waste water treatment, and public electricity and highways have been in the past?
5. Is charity, or even empathy, a government function, or a personal decision?
6. Are people poor because of circumstances, or because they are deadbeats? Just who decides the answer to this question?
7. Just who is the "food police"? Is what we eat a personal or government decision?

At the human evolution level:

1. Is there something worth both preserving and promoting in this new world USA country?
2. Are we in the USA going to revert to other forms of government, like royalty or dictatorship? Or are we still going to be revolutionaries that expand this new world USA country that so far has attracted a lot of fellow humans willing to work hard?

One can argue many things. In the meantime some questions should be asked, and this is one proposed list. After all, it is all about ourselves and our families futures. So now there is a reasonable worry that we may have elected too many incompetent, though smooth talking and often pedigree educated, and maybe immoral people to guide us through the near future. Now I am both worried, and also have hope for the future since I think the voters are still in charge.

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