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How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government.... HENRY DAVID THOREAU I agree with Mr. Thoreau. Im pretty much down on the entire bureaucratic bunch in Washington. The Federal record indicates that last year the Executive Branch of our government employed some 1,834,700 civilian souls. Military and the other branches are not included in this number. These fine folks managed to spend $1.6 Trillion in 1997. At the same time they projected a steadily rising budget up to $1.9 Trillion in the year 2003. The federal payroll is about $200 Billion per year. Thats $3,200 for each family in the US. The reader will remember that we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. One wonders what the 8,700 people of the Panama Canal Commission are doing and particularly why their membership is scheduled to increase to 9,500 by 2003. Perhaps we could use these people as the nucleus of a brand new bureaucracy to buy up the tobacco lands. Its difficult if not impossible to make sense out of the federal budget. For example, I ran across an item called "Other" that spent $130 Billion in 1997. In the past fifty years this bunch has spent for:
Personally, I can find a place or two in there where I would like to cut some of that out. I was intrigued by the promise of Morry Taylor from Iowa during the 1996 election to "Take away one third of the federal bureaucrats, from the top down". But I think I have a better way. My perception is the elected bureaucrats spend way too much time bound up in campaign financing, lobbyists, personal agenda, pork, reelection and fencing with each other and not enough time improving the life and times of the country as a whole. On July 4th last year Senator McCain was interviewed on the Fox network. On the subject of campaign finance his comment was "No one can believe the system is not out of control". Recently I saw Senator Bird on television say " The President has his pork and I am going to have mine". During this past term Senator Gingritch has ramroded an item into the budget that provides a number of cargo aircraft the military did not want and had to give up something they did want to the tune of $300 Million. These aircraft are being build in his home state at Marietta Georgia. Similarly, Congressman Lott arranged for a helicopter launch ship, that the navy did not ask for to be built in Pasgoula Mississippi, his home state. Final cost of this ship is in the $300 Million range. Thats almost a billion dollars worth of pork folks. No wonder these people keep coming back to Washington year after year. My plan will solve all of the above with one fell swoop. Elect our Senators for one and only one ten year term with 10% being re-elected each year. Elect our Representatives for one five year term with 20% being re-elected each year. Without hope for re-election, all the time and effort now invested in planning and scheming can be spent for better things. Now here is the tricky part and the part that makes everything work. At the end of their term conduct a national plebiscite to decide the level of their lifetime pension and reward for national service. Permissible levels might range from 50% to 150% of their salaries in office. Their home state vote would weight 20% of the result and the other 49 states vote would weigh 80%. I realize this would require a constitutional amendment. Although I am basically opposed to altering the constitution, I have observed that country, governments, societies corporations and entire civilizations have become stagnant and died. Im sure our founding fathers, in their wildest imaginations, could not imagine the far future magnitude of the thing they were creating. Nor can we visualize the civilization existing 250 years from now. If we dont tweak it a bit from time to time we might not have a civilization 250 years hence. My perception is that we must grow or die. Furthermore, if we dont make some fundamental changes our government will eventually become so powerful and so bloated that the remedies will be a lot more painful. There is yet another place where a minor change would result in a major improvement in government. I have observed through countless contacts that there is the odd civil servant who is dedicated to his job. But for ever one there are a hundred holding him back. In Houston the Veterans Administration and the Small Business Administration occupy offices in the same building near the Astrodome. I had occasion to be in the lobby of that building on several occasions a few years back at about three o-clock in the afternoon. Although the published quitting time was 4:30 people were streaming out of the building at 3 oclock, singly and in groups of two or three or larger. I was so intrigued by the comments they were making that I began to stand in the lobby and listen to passing conversational bits such as "I dont see why she got promoted, Ive been here a year longer than she has" or "I have accumulated 245 days of sick leave. If I retired tomorrow, I would get over a years extra pay". Obviously, personal agenda was the theme of the day. Discharging a civil servant is very difficult. It almost requires an act of congress. I suppose this came with the original civil service legislation as it has been tweaked, twisted, prodded and changed by its membership in the ensuing years. Now, suppose a group manager at any level winds up with a bad apple in his group and wants to remove it. The easiest if not the only way is to transfer that individual to another organization. Civil service transfers are sometimes difficult unless there is a promotion involved. So the bad apples wind up being promoted and transferred. Now consider this frightening scenario. The top levels of the entire civil service structure are composed of "bad apples" that have been promoted and transferred and thusly percolated to the top. Civil Service is the only organized group of people in the United Stated whose employment does not depend on performance. Change the rules, I say, and permit civil service personal to be discharged for cause in the same manner as workers in the rest of our society. Make every manager, all the way to the top, responsible for performance. Establish a review board composed of non-civil service members for all levels. |
John Wallen, 3 Bear Trail - HC 1 Box 1204, Strawberry, Arizona 85544 e-mail johnwallen@wallens.com Metal Art Commercial Website www.fancyfoxx.com |