Capitol Hill Blue Forums Thread Like Summary - Faith in our government

I have come to the conclusion that virtually all the pain, suffering, lunacy and all the rest has to do with a loss of faith in our system, elected, AND our government. Years ago I wrote to my elected suggesting that they take a time spot on PBS and dedicate that time to explaining just what a given federal agency does and how it does it (I was ignored, as usual). We all know there are hundreds of agencies but few know what they are or what they do. All we know is that we pay taxes to support them and assume they may, or may not be, doing stuff that is in our own interest.

We know, for instance that our political parties either tell us nothing or lie to us on a regular basis. But what in the hell are we doing with over 400 agencies. Why can't our government use a bit of time, on a tv company which we, the voters, support! Why not tell us what the hell our government is doing? Sometimes we learn bits here and there. Yesterday, on the news, we were told that the government owns a huge apartment complex which is rotting into the ground, for instance.

I think we all agree that the Dems are not good at telling anybody what they are doing, what they have done and what they might do - its all a secret and really bad. My wife, a couple of years ago was manning the phones for the local Democrats. She noticed a bunch of sign for Hillary and asked for one to put in the yard and was told that would cost her 35.00 - she quit the phones and never went back. That was the good old days and its MUCH worse now! My point is that our government, in its wisdom behaves worse that that! They tell us nothing unless they think it may serve them to keep their jobs.

If we have no idea just what the hell our government is doing why in the world would be continue to support it? That goes double for our elected. On the other hand, if there was a show that looked at specific agencies and told us just what, exactly they are doing and are going to do I would watch that one!

Anyway, take a look:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/waynec...the-swamp-until-we-know/?sh=45aaf2ff1aa2

And this one is pretty interesting as well:
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GOVMAN-2015-07-01/GOVMAN-2015-07-01-322

I’m attaching a very good article, longish but clear. This is what it has to say about Goldwater:



https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/16/the-lost-canyon-under-lake-powell

You have poked one of my sore spots, I believe.

The government is not designed, or intended, to be efficient. The government is designed, in large part, to handle those areas too inefficient - or sometimes too dangerous - for the private sector to handle.

Case in point: state universities are government owned and operated because private universities were too expensive, or too geographically remote, for middle-class students.

Case in point: county medical services exist to put health care in reach of people who are too remote from the nearest health care system, or unable to pay. My aunt made a living as a home health care nurse. Imagine the cost if she had worked for a private company.

Then look again at the effort to privatize prisons, with extremely poor results. Some things should not be run for profit. Similarly, I don’t want to drive over bridges built by Acme Bridge-Builders Inc.

On the other hand, planes generally land where they’re supposed to.

The government can screw up; that’s for sure. Look at Hoover Dam. On the other hand,look a5 theTennessee Valley Authority.

You think you don’t know what the government does? I guarantee you don’t. It’s vast. It’s not always right, by any mean

We are a nation of over 330 million people, covering an area of 3.797 million mi², the third largest nation on earth. When something is that big, inefficiencies are inevitable. Frankly, it is amazing it works as well as it does. Look at how poorly many States are run, and the Feds look good by comparison.

One of the problems we have in creating and monitoring "government" is that we do it piecemeal. We want government to do a lot of things. Congress sees a problem, and they create a solution - even if an answer already exists. A lot of people get involved in creating that solution, not all of them with altruism in mind, and certainly not efficiency. The bureaucracy is a creation of accretion, not holistic organization.

Often efforts at reorganization make matters worse. Consider the Department of Homeland Security. Or the disaster that Louis DeJoy has made of the Post Office. It gets particularly bad when incompetents and opponents of the Agency are put in charge - which goes back at least as far as James Watt.

Having worked "in government" for 30 years, and having had government benefits for even longer, now, I have a good deal of faith in the bulk of people that work for it. The vast majority, in my experience, go into government with a "service" orientation, and it shows.

Now, there is a segment of those folks who look at it "as a job" and work only for the benefits, and there are certainly leaders (especially the political ones) who bring vastly "unusual" agendas to the workplace, but even the majority of them do it for (sometimes very misguided) principled reasons. Then there are the James Watts, Louis DeJoys and Betsy DeVoses who are just out to destroy a functioning government. They're beyond incompetent, they are truly evil.

I don't think any rational person doubts Biden sincerely wants to "do good". I don't think anyone doubts that Merrick Garland wants principle to control the operations at the Department of Justice. Whether they can overcome the cynical, manipulative, destructive, deceptive political environment is the question of the age. It may be our last chance.