\u201cThe government this.\u201d \u201cThe government that.\u201d These are often the lead-ins for criticisms from right-winger malcontents. To them, it is as if the government is a monolith made up of demons who are secretly plotting to undermine everyone and everything that they value.<\/p>\n
From a bird\u2019s eye view, this is silly. Most of the government\u2019s work is to ensure that we \u2013 all 318 million of us \u2013 are able to live together in a way that minimizing disorganization and suffering while maximizing safety, well-being, and freedom. There is a different but equally valid view of the government from \u201cboots on the ground\u201d where there are 2.7 million federal employees, the lowest figure in 47 years<\/a>. Are they what some right-wingers think, agents of the devil seeking to insidiously destroy our lives? Hardly. Most are very conscientious hard-working individuals who do their best to provide needed goods and services, often to a public which gripes and complains to and about them.<\/p>\n Sam (not his real name) has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for over thirty years. He has several more years to go until he\u2019s eligible for his full pension. He may not be your ordinary letter-carrier, because he spends a good deal of time thinking about the well-being of his country. He obviously wants what is best for him and his family, but it troubles him that the Postal Service does not have as its primary goal to provide the best possible service to the public. He sees problem number one as the Service being so top-heavy with bureaucrats. It hasn\u2019t always been that way, but in recent years the number of administrators has grown. It\u2019s expanded so fast that many bureaucrats do not have full-time jobs, in the sense that they don\u2019t have constructive things to do in an eight-hour day. Given that situation, they often expand their job description to find better ways for carriers to do the job. This can also be called meddling.<\/p>\n Does this remind you of anything? It\u2019s like education where we have far too many administrators who have little to do but interfere with teachers doing the teaching. [In the United States there are now as many non-teaching personnel in our public schools as teachers.<\/a>]<\/p>\n Sam says that immediate supervisors understand what carriers do on a day-to-day basis. Many of these individuals have walked or driven a route. They know the difference between promoting efficiency and engaging in trouble-making.<\/p>\n