Text 12262, 55 rader
Skriven 2007-02-15 09:09:17 av Rob Perkins (15703.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: Cath0licism and Creati=nism
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[I'll probably reply to other points, but this one deserves a shining reply
of its own.]
>> Buh? Support that. Cincinnatus went back to his farm.
> 
> Seems self-evident: capable people tend to seek the most challenging
> jobs. Including farming, albeit I was describing working public
> servants, not retired ones.

Seeming self-evidence is acceptable for a premise, not an assertion as
complex as "the best public servants gravitate to the federal Capitol".

One might from there just as easily conclude that better ones serve us at
the U.N., which based on its own investigations, and notwithstanding the
many people who

Further, it ignores the dirty side of politics, which elevate incompetence
to positions of devastating power, such as ol' "Brownie" in FEMA, and
whichever other appointed positions were filled

(I will, however, point out that things were complex enough and disastrous
enough in Katrina that far more people than Brown should have resigned or
been dismissed. And that FEMA was subject to organizationally disastrous
changes when they were folded into DHS.

For my money, I think FEMA ought to be grouped in tightly with the USGS, the
NOAA and NWS, and the Interior, and have their man-made disaster mandate
removed altogether.)

Finally, it comes to a simple matter of respect for satiated competence. A
man or woman who would make an excellent Secretary of State may never
consider pursuing it because he or she is uninterested in international
politics quite nearly as much as running a school board or fixing the
educational system in one state.

A close relative of mine, for example, is fully capable of becoming the
governor of a state like Idaho or Utah, and is charismatic enough to win a
political race. But since he doesn't want to pay the price in the change of
lifestyle required to pursue politics, he's happy with upper management
positions in various largish phone and insurance companies around the
country. 

That sort of reasoning can certainly extend to members of a State
bureaucracy or a National Guard.

Thus, while capable people are attracted to difficult work, there is a
spectrum of difficult work more rewarding or more compatible to those
capable people much larger than just federal service. Perhaps in the USSR
this was not the case, but in Western free democracies, it simply can't be
said that the most competent people always go to the federal level, both
because there is crushing incompetence canceling out efforts at all levels,
and because not everyone wants a federal experience. QED.

Rob
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