[at-l] The Government and The Environment - TOTALLY OFF

[daveh@psknet.com (Dave Hicks)]

Ah, the myths that endure.  The permanent nature and stability of Government
jobs and programs is a beauty.

In my 31 years of public service, I was RIFed (for non-feds, "put out of
work") and part-time furloughed (for non-feds, "had my biweekly work
schedule reduced by 8-16 hours w/ an 10-20% cut in pay") a number of times.
Three of the programs, offices, etc in which I worked were closed.

What you say about folk working "hard at protecting, and expanding whatever
program, or agency they are in charge of, whether or not that program..."
may be true of the folk "in charge" at, or near, the top.

But don't kid yourself, down in the trenches, were the work gets done,
many-many government workers (Fed, State, & Local) dedication, devotion,
hard work and sincerity, and knowledge.

Even Ed Abbey had good things to say about the rank-in-file while ripping
programs apart -- see Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness.

Chainsaw

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan N." <djnickerson@yahoo.com>
To: "AT List" <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 9:17 AM
Subject: [at-l] The Government and The Environment - TOTALLY OFF


> Jim wrote:
> <<If I want
> dedication, devotion, hard work and sincerity, (and
> knowledge) I'll
> look for
> a bureaucrat, not a politician.
> >>
> I am mostly in agreement with the bulk of your post,
> but not this particular statement. Unless I
> misunderstand your meaning. Bureaucrats, in my
> opinion, are not necessarily more knowledgeable, or
> sincere than politicians. They do work hard at
> protecting, and expanding whatever program, or agency
> they are in charge of, whether or not that program or
> agency is really doing the job it was intended to do.
> It appears to me that once a program or agency is
> established, it is rare that they ever go away, they
> just continue on, whether they have served a useful
> purpose or not. At least with an elected official,
> they can be voted out of office. A bureaucrat doesn't
> really have to answer to a constituency. Of course, I
> could be wrong.
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
> http://sports.yahoo.com
> _______________________________________________
> AT-L mailing list
> AT-L@mailman.backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
>