Government - a rambling
It's been a while since I've posted, I haven't had much to talk about, but there's been some things on my mind and now I'm getting them out.
Any civilized group will need some form of government and guidence. Whether it's as simple as "let's go hunt and gather over there" to the grand operation that is running a country of 300 million people, it's a necessary entity.
It's not that people couldn't survive without government, it's more that people's lives are simpler when there's a set of rules that they know everyone will abide by. A healthy leadership is beneficial to both the leaders and the population.
As time is going by, and with the benefit of instantaneous communication that both TV and the Internet provide, it's very easy to be shown failures in a system - As the saying goes, nothing travels faster than bad news.
The SFweekly article regarding the state of San Francisco budget process and employee management (and lack thereof) is a good example of how one government and leadership is unhealthy.
I believe the primary issue brought up in that article is definitely the most important one - Continuing to employ incompetent people. And not just uncompetents, but those that have been in a position so long they have grown complacent and useless.
It also is a reminder of how unions have begun to poison the well that they drink at. The very idea that there is a quota/threshold of how many incompetent people can be let go is a distressing sign. A union should never be attempting to protect incompent and lazy people - It should be protecting and negotiating for the hard working people.
As we look forward, knowing that California's budget has become broken and unbalanced, just as SF has, the same ideas that the article posted should be applied. Reduction in manpower, let the leaders do the leading and have administrators handle the administration, audit the actual spending of money and what results are being generated, and one of the hardest ones - reset the budget allocations and minimum staffing levels. The very idea of a use or lose budget welcomes waste. Agencies should never be punished for being cost conscious.
Any civilized group will need some form of government and guidence. Whether it's as simple as "let's go hunt and gather over there" to the grand operation that is running a country of 300 million people, it's a necessary entity.
It's not that people couldn't survive without government, it's more that people's lives are simpler when there's a set of rules that they know everyone will abide by. A healthy leadership is beneficial to both the leaders and the population.
As time is going by, and with the benefit of instantaneous communication that both TV and the Internet provide, it's very easy to be shown failures in a system - As the saying goes, nothing travels faster than bad news.
The SFweekly article regarding the state of San Francisco budget process and employee management (and lack thereof) is a good example of how one government and leadership is unhealthy.
I believe the primary issue brought up in that article is definitely the most important one - Continuing to employ incompetent people. And not just uncompetents, but those that have been in a position so long they have grown complacent and useless.
It also is a reminder of how unions have begun to poison the well that they drink at. The very idea that there is a quota/threshold of how many incompetent people can be let go is a distressing sign. A union should never be attempting to protect incompent and lazy people - It should be protecting and negotiating for the hard working people.
As we look forward, knowing that California's budget has become broken and unbalanced, just as SF has, the same ideas that the article posted should be applied. Reduction in manpower, let the leaders do the leading and have administrators handle the administration, audit the actual spending of money and what results are being generated, and one of the hardest ones - reset the budget allocations and minimum staffing levels. The very idea of a use or lose budget welcomes waste. Agencies should never be punished for being cost conscious.