Text 3796, 68 rader
Skriven 2009-11-17 12:15:49 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
   Kommentar till text 3794 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
Ärende: On my many hats...
==========================
Hello Ross,

On Monday November 16 2009 20:32, you wrote to me:

 RC>>> Yes, and I submit that if the Mayor of a Nederland Village is
 RC>>> also the Town Vet, there would be no problem...

 MV>> Maybe not where you live but here that would certainly be a
 MV>> problem. It would not be accepted. Period.

 RC> You lost the meaning of the example, by expressing your peoples need
 RC> for huge govt, sorry I should have used another locale.

Your anti European bias is showing. And leads you to the wrong conclusion. It
has nthing to do with our (perceived) need for huge goverment. It has all to do
with avoiding situations where people get compromised.

What if a fire breaks out in an old people's home and the chief of the fire
brigade calls the mayor that an emergency evacuation plan has to be set in
motion? What if at the same time the vet gets a call from a large horse breeder
that a valuable horse has a problem giving birth and needs the vet right away?
Where does he go first? Does he give the tax payer what they pay him for? To be
there and lead the evacuation? Or does he go to the horse breeder to treat the
horse? Knowing that if he does not go and the horse dies because of it, the
horse breeder will never call him again and maybe many of his collegues. That
will cost him al lot of income.

We do not want people to get caught up in such a conflict of interest. So we
make it a condition that if the town vet wants to apply for the job of town
mayor, he has to give up being a vet. He can argue that he does not see a
conflict, that it is only  a small town, that in the 30 years that he has been
a vet, he has never been called to do an emergency operation on a valuable
horse, etc, etc, it won't help him. If he does not agree to stop being a vet,
he will not get the job of major. Period.

Thank you for choosing this example. It nicely illustrates our cultural
differences. We seem to be more aware of potential conflicts of interest and
put more value on steps to be ahead of it than you.

 RC>>> I voted for myself because I could.

 MV>> And the fact that you exploited an advantage over the other
 MV>> candiates did not bother you?

 RC> If it was prohibited, I would not have done so,

So it would have taken an explicit ban to stop you from voting for yourself.

I can only conclude that it does not bother you that you exploited an advantage
over the other candidates...

 RC>  nothing evil intended on my part.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions...

 RC> its good to have confidence in your beliefs, its another thing to be
 RC> arrogant and sometimes condescending about them, which is how you come
 RC> across sometimes.

And you think that does not apply to you too?

Oh boy....


Cheers, Michiel

--- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20070503
 * Origin: http://www.vlist.org (2:280/5555)