Our government is supposed to be there to protect the people; to protect the family and the workings of our civilization. Our nation’s founders never intended for government to take on a life of its own or to replace the responsibilities of the family. The national government in America was and still should be a … Continue reading 5.10 Government’s Job

Some things that would put government back in its place: Whenever a government scandal pops up, the Administration should immediately freeze spending. If they do not, Congress should. This is sort of analogous to hitting the brakes when you see a deer in the road. Once a problem appears, slow down and see what what … Continue reading 5.90 Solutions for Government

I spent my career designing and planning Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) buildings and health care delivery strategies Here are some specific VA reforms needed. The principles underlining these could be also applied to other Departments.   1. Make requests for VA Construction Funding a part of each VA Administration’s budget request, not a part … Continue reading 5.91 VA Planning and Construction Program Reforms

When I was working for the federal government, we often were told that government operations should be transparent. We knew that meant government operations should not be secret and that the public should know what we were doing. The problem is that words do mean things. Making government operations truly transparent actually makes them invisible. … Continue reading 5.8 A Transparent Government is an Invisible Government

For quite some time I had a misconception about government planning. I thought most government planning was harmless. I was wrong. Government planning limits our freedoms. All governments place some degree of limits on their citizens. They might be severe, as in Communism, or minimal, as envisioned by the United States Constitution, but all governments … Continue reading 5.7 That Government is Best That Plans Least

The complexities of the internal workings of government do not stop with the official hierarchy, inefficiency, and the various underground gorilla, and behind the back networks. Within the bureaucracy you mostly work “horizontally” in that you primarily work with others at the same level of the organization. Depending on the position you have you may … Continue reading 5.5 Silos in Government

FDR famously said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” I have never been sure of exactly what he meant by that. It is not true, but it sounds clever. Fearing fear sounds like a never-ending circle, which is how it feels to work in the bureaucracy. I remember going to training where they … Continue reading 5.6 Fear in Government

The negative impact of government metrics and performance standards drive many employees underground into what I call Underground Employee Gorilla Networks. These networks thrive because they have resources available to them due to the inherent inefficiency of government. (Government inefficiency, metrics, and performance standards were previously explained in Sections 5.2 and 5.3.) These networks are … Continue reading 5.4 Underground Employee Gorilla Networks in Government