if you're talking about the office the acronym of which is on the tip of my tongue but not my fingers--I want to say GPO but that's wrong--I have had a lot of respect for their reports in the past.
GAO, and you're right.
I'm talking about the professionals here, not the clerks and paper pushers, who I agree probably just want a stable job with good benefits.
I'm talking about professionals, too. Uncle Sam has high standards for his paper pushers. Most of them are lawyers. The rest typically have either MBAs or advanced degrees in whatever it is that the agency does.
But I think in the areas I mostly deal with -- local planning and child areas -- you're more likely to get people who go into those fields for ideological reasons than just to have a job.
I'm sure there are some who come to the job with political agendas, maybe, as you say, most of them. But let me offer another possible explanation of what you're observing.
What you see may be, to a large extent, just the typical behavior of any service provider, they talk about the services they provide. If you go to a financial service provider, they talk to you about bonds and annuities, they don't talk to you about mattresses because they don't offer mattresses. Government programs are the same. They have a repertoire to offer and they greet customers with their menu of options. They assume you're coming to them for help so they offer to help you with what they have to offer. It's natural behavior. They can't offer a solution that's not within their repertoire. They can't say they can't help you. So they push whatever it is amongst their options that they think is best even if it's not the best overall solution for your problem. It's no different from going to a doctor. He won't tell you to get a new suit or clean your attic. He'll give you a pill. Because it's in his repertoire.
Karen |
