While I am not surprised by your description of the state of our government, I find it deeply discouraging. Where, on the surface, those on both sides of the aisle point shakey and accusatory fingers at the other side, it seems the problem is far deeper into the systematic structures of too many departments doing jobs that are too similar and each claiming top dog in the fight. I agree sometimes with the idea on the conservative side of the aisle that government is too big. But it might seem conservatives just want to get rid of programs that help people like welfare, or food stamps what they really should be looking at are agencies that are doing work of other agencies -- the massive art of bureaucratic double and triple dipping. But no one thinks about that kind of stuff. It's not good campaign fodder. So the mess continues.
Really interesting, and troubling, Gordon. My deepest exposure was at DOE in my DC years. A leader in my field ran an office there for several years. At one private meeting, he said ‘our government is pretty good at creating new processes, but can’t seem to get rid of old ones.’ That seems endemic; with a civil service system, it’s hard to cut back. DOE’s created new offices now to handle the BIL and IRA funding, and are hiring like crazy. Meanwhile the state and local agencies that would use the money are struggling to meet all the grant requirements. It’s amazing that so much gets done. Meanwhile, 80~% of DOE’s budget is military—the nukes, enough to end the world in a flash. As the Wicked Witch said at the end of the Wizard of Oz, ‘what a world, what a world…’
Breathtaking. Two questions: When was the last time the State Department was its own best friend? And when did it become its own worst enemy, and why? ("in a word or two")
This reminds me of My meeting with the Ambasador of Chile when I visited as an exchange student in 1955.. He could not speak Spanish!!!! and the Intelectuals in the Country were the Military..
Reminds me of Cyrus the Great who used diplomacy, more than force of arms, to establish the Persian Empire, the largest known until his time ~ 500BC
While I am not surprised by your description of the state of our government, I find it deeply discouraging. Where, on the surface, those on both sides of the aisle point shakey and accusatory fingers at the other side, it seems the problem is far deeper into the systematic structures of too many departments doing jobs that are too similar and each claiming top dog in the fight. I agree sometimes with the idea on the conservative side of the aisle that government is too big. But it might seem conservatives just want to get rid of programs that help people like welfare, or food stamps what they really should be looking at are agencies that are doing work of other agencies -- the massive art of bureaucratic double and triple dipping. But no one thinks about that kind of stuff. It's not good campaign fodder. So the mess continues.
Really interesting, and troubling, Gordon. My deepest exposure was at DOE in my DC years. A leader in my field ran an office there for several years. At one private meeting, he said ‘our government is pretty good at creating new processes, but can’t seem to get rid of old ones.’ That seems endemic; with a civil service system, it’s hard to cut back. DOE’s created new offices now to handle the BIL and IRA funding, and are hiring like crazy. Meanwhile the state and local agencies that would use the money are struggling to meet all the grant requirements. It’s amazing that so much gets done. Meanwhile, 80~% of DOE’s budget is military—the nukes, enough to end the world in a flash. As the Wicked Witch said at the end of the Wizard of Oz, ‘what a world, what a world…’
Breathtaking. Two questions: When was the last time the State Department was its own best friend? And when did it become its own worst enemy, and why? ("in a word or two")
This reminds me of My meeting with the Ambasador of Chile when I visited as an exchange student in 1955.. He could not speak Spanish!!!! and the Intelectuals in the Country were the Military..