For Government Workers Everywhere:

A great deal has been said on the right that the government is getting too big—poking its nose into every nook and cranny of individual lives and making decisions best left to the people.

The counter from the left has been that the government is us—that it is only made up of people and so it is people making these decisions after all.

Actually, the former is a matter of opinion as to what is too big. (Too big to fail)? The latter is not at all correct. No government is people. Government is (hopefully) based on law, but in practical action it is applied rules and regulations. It is only people in so far as it is people “doing their job,” which is applying the rules and regulations.

Auschwitz and Buchenwald were staffed by government people doing their job. That was the chief excuse at Nuremburg after the war. “I was just doing my job.” It wasn’t a good defense.

Rules and regulations, applied. That is what government is. And some will always say government is too big, though I suppose it could be a bit smaller. Still, as long as it is as big as it is, allow me to make this suggestion:

For anyone working in any sort of bureaucratic, governmental work, my suggestion is: WORK PERSONALLY… I mean, take it personally.

DMV, IRS, EPA, etc., before you decide anything, adjudicate anything, approve or disapprove anything ask what if this was me? What if this was my grandparents, parents, children, home, job in the balance? If I do this (or don’t do this) what if it was my life at stake here? How would I want someone to decide if it was me?

I am not advocating breaking the law, just finding a human way around the rules and regulations for the sake of humanity.

WORK PERSONALLY. Make it personal. Take it personal. Do nothing without consideration.

True, ideologues on the left will be unhappy when, for example, their environmental regulations can no longer ruin human lives or destroy jobs or keep people from using the bountiful resources of this great land or the IRS stops fining people who are barely making ends meet as it is.

And, people on the right will no doubt still think government has gotten too big and intrusive.

But whether you are on the left or the right, think of this: When the next Nuremburg comes, “I was just doing my job” won’t be an acceptable excuse then, either.


-MichaelThe Fiction Side: The Storyteller http://mgkizzia.wordpress.com/ The Non-Fiction Side: Word & Spirit http://michaelkizzia.wordpress.com/