Posted by thekeenobserver on Monday, August 10, 2009 11:12:08 PM
Here's a pertinent observation one might find interesting: Comparing government employees with workers in the private sector.
When the St. Anthony Bridge (I-35 West) collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 people, it had severed a major artery into Minneapolis.
Experts feared that it would take at LEAST three years to rebuild at an astronomical cost. When Governor Tim Pawlenty announced he wanted it completed within 17 months, everyone scoffed at such improbability.
But Pawlenty had guessed incorrectly.
It took but 13 months to rebuild the bridge. And it came in UNDER budget. Why? The job was turned over to the private sector.
The team of FIGG Engineering, Flatiron Constructors, and Manson Construction, won the bids for the project and delivered a new bridge in an unprecedented time frame.
But how? Pure motivation.
Construction began well before the final design was completed. Teams of contractors worked 12-hour shifts in brutal subzero temperatures. By shaving off more than 12 weeks from the 17-month deadline, FIGG, Flatiron and Mason earned themselves hefty bonuses, which no doubt played a part in the project's early completion.
Now let's shift our story to Boston- home to the infamous "Big Dig."
When excavation began in 1991, it was heralded as a jewel of engineering and vision. Then after years of cost overruns, delays, and myriad construction-related problems, the most expensive highway project in U.S. history was finally completed, save for an array of nettlesome side projects.
One big source of its delay-- faulty bolts throughout. Tests showed more than 1,100 bolt assemblies in the 300 areas in each connector-tunnel were unreliable. All had to be retrofitted-- flaws typical in EVERY government project.
Throughout its lengthy construction, the Big Dig was symbolic of government's incompetence - for its delays, faulty design, and horrid cost overruns. And of course, when it comes to anything involving government, "competence" becomes a foreign word.
The $14.6 billion Big Dig took 14 years to construct-- the most expensive highway project in U.S. history. And the Dig's overall cost exceeded double the Panama Canal's price in today's dollars.
And can you guess why? Of course; 60 percent of the project's tab was federal-- meaning the "sloth factor" was involved--and nearly every American taxpayer has felt the impact of the Big-Dig's price tag.
So what is this mysterious government "sloth" factor? Simple; it all boils down to one thing--motivation (or lack thereof )-- the essence behind all human behavior.
Motivation is central to our nature: if one is not challenged to take things to a "higher level", a person will oftentimes slack off into mediocrity. And this is the evil lesson of big government - it does nothing other than create a culture of worker-sloths (not the tree- hanging kind).
If there's a behavioral-political lesson to be gleaned from all this, it can be summed up in a nutshell- the basic reason why government programs never work-- there is nothing to truly motivate anyone to do anything properly, except "hose the company."
Example: let’s use the dreaded state auto bureau registrar as your typical government sloth agency.
Let's say your job is to mail license plates, and it’s Friday at 2pm, and you're not interested in working any longer. What would happen if you just left at 3:15, citing the excuse, "I'm not feeling too chipper". What would be the consequences? In all probability, nothing!
Example #2: let's say you work at a privately-owned UPS franchise store, and your job is to wrap and ship customer packages promptly. What if you decided to walk out at 3:15 on a Friday, citing the same "I don't feel good" excuse? Would you...
a) be questioned by the manager.
b) be told by the mgr. "to tough it out" till closing
c) be threatened by the manager, saying he'll tell the owner "you left early"
d) be fired
Answer=All the above
Here's the salient point: without consequences there can be no rule - no order of any kind. And without order there can be no discipline. And without discipline, there can be no accomplishment.
So analyze just about any government position. You just show up. You can be mediocre; you can slack off... watch the clock... do a crossword...surf the net. Who cares? There's really no urgency to get anything done, because there are NO consequences, other than a murmur from your supervisor.
But the supervisor isn't the owner; the supervisor isn't the one PAYING you. It's the government, which is a faceless, paper-shuffling bureaucracy, running on the taxpayer's time and money.
This is why big government has never been (and will never be) the answer to our nation's problems. Can anything positive ever be accomplished if mediocrity is the norm, incompetence is tolerated, and excellence is non-existent?
There have been ONLY two greatly successful government programs in our modern history:
First-- the 1942 national transformation from peacetime to wartime economy. This was because Americans had the most powerful motivator of all--survival; America was united under president Roosevelt. Factories ran 24/7. Inspired people worked 12-hour shifts. We out-produced our enemies and won the war.
Second - In the 1960's, we achieved what seemed impossible at that time ...we landed on the moon, and safely returned our men. Once again our nation was united under President Kennedy who had set one goal--win the space race over the Soviet Union.
Big-government Socialism all harkens back to the Marx-Engels concept -- The State vs. The Individual. The individual exists for the State.
Under socialism, everyone in effect, becomes "government employees"...either the sloths (workers) and leeches (dependents), each being subservient to the State. The same old Marxist theory: tax the rich to support the poor. Class distinction. Class envy. Remove all incentive; crush all entrepreneurs; set income limits with the ceiling of taxation.
And in the blink of an historical eye, we are sudenly faced with the survival of our representative republic, and the most arrogant unconscionable gang of socialists ever to ascend Capitol Hill.
But now - with the national emergency of socialism about to be foisted upon us -Americans are suddenly united in a fashion similar to the old days, like those of the 1960's during the space race with Russians, or like the befginning of 1942, when the entire nation came together to fight the tyranny of the Axis.
The point is this: real Americans never take their freedom for granted; they will stop at nothing - be it a a one-hour drive to a townhall meeting, or enlisting in the armed forces - to keep it; that's how much the so-called average American deeply loves his/her country,
But our upstart, phony Marxist anti-president - who's about as unpatriotic as they come -is about to find it out the hard way...an angry America will follow this Socialist demagogue no longer.
Let Barack Obama return to whatever foreign place he came from. The man may be president of the United States, but he is not an American.