Part 1. In your opinion, are most people in government incompetent and dishonest?

[Skidmore]

I'm talking about those beyond elected office. How do you perceive the people who work daily in the offices and workshops associated with government?

Edit thread title.

[Javaman]

1. You should repost this as a poll. nt

[Just Saying]

2. No.

I don't believe those who work for government (or politics, police, etc.) are any more or less incompetent and dishonest than the general population.

[A HERETIC I AM]

20. Beg to differ on the police.

It seems too often these days, the worst types are attracted to police work.

My older brother and I have had long conversations about this subject (other family members have had many run-ins with the cops) and we both agree on this point:

There are basically two types of cops

1) the kind that just wants to get through the day and make it home alive. He does his job but got into it for the right reasons and take the "To Serve and Protect" idea seriously.

2) the kind that truly enjoys the idea that he can crack someone's skull open and get away with it and/or take someone to jail for no other reason than he can. The "Respect mah athoritah!" Type. This type sees the general public as nothing more than a "them", all of us potential criminals.


Unfortunately , type one seems to be a diminishing percentage and type two seems to be all the more common.


As for the rest of Government workers, they are by and large, just normal hardworking folks.

Subject to the same foibles as the rest of us.

[Just Saying]

22. Well my father was a firefighter in the mid-sized town where I grew up.

So I knew quite a few cops there. I think it's a suck job and I appreciate that someone does it.

That being said, I agree that there are bad cops but I'm not sure the percentage of incompetence and/or asshole is any higher than any other group. The problem is that that type should never be in a position of authority and they make all the rest look bad.

I think there are bad people in all kinds of positions where they shouldn't be whether its because they're racist, bigoted, sexist or flat out evil. It's true of cops but also politicians, school teachers, CEOs etc.

[A HERETIC I AM]

24. How many people that really want to be able to bust some

Heads open become teachers or firefighters?

I'll give you that it can be a suck job. One of the few that one stands to get shot at on a regular basis.


But....


I stand by my assertion. Police work definetly attracts a particular type of individual. The type who joined the police because it was the only way he was ever going to get anyone to call him "Sir". I have no doubt in my mind that there are many thousands of police that just love the idea that they get to carry a gun and a club and a tazer and a license to freely use them on anyone at any time. The evidence for this is overwhelming these days, witness the incident of a few days ago where the cop shot a mans dog AFTER cuffing the man for NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG!

The police in this country have been militarized and brainwashed.

Entirely too many if them feel and ACT as if they are above the law and certainly above the people who pay their salaries.

[Warpy]

27. The worst people have always been attracted to authoritarian jobs

whether it's the police, the corporate executive suites, or some branches of government.

Good police departments try to weed them out because of the danger of lawsuits that are expensive to fight. Not so much corporations and governments.

[limpyhobbler]

3. no more so than your typical human being. nt

[el_bryanto]

4. I encounter people in local government regularly

While I can comment on a few self important jerks i've met over the year, they are vastly outnumbered by dedicated professionals trying to serve their communities.

Bryant

[MineralMan]

5. No. They're no different than anyone else.

In your opinion, are most people who work for corporations incompetent and dishonest?

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. Absolutely not. But they are all eventually beaten into cynicism. n/t

[baldguy]

7. Definitely not.

They're just like anyone else. Are most people at your bank incompetent and dishonest?

[olddots]

8. Only the ones wwho get TV coverage

[Buzz Clik]

9. No.

However, I find most of the harshest critics of the people in government to be poorly informed, disingenuous, and often dishonest.

[Shrike47]

10. No. And I have been one. We were very competent or couldn't get the job.

[pnwmom]

11. No more than people in any profession. n/t

[elleng]

12. Of course not, 'they' are 'US!'

I am a retired Federal employee. We do/did our jobs. Sometimes we disagreed with the policies promoted by the heads of our agencies, and when we did/do. we let them know in the best manner possible. Didn't always work. Some few may have been incompetent. Dishonest? Only in the same proportion as in the general populace.

THEY are US.

[premium]

13. No more, no less than the average citizen.

There are always incompetent and dishonest fools in every facet of society.

[wickerwoman]

14. No,

and they are certainly held to a far greater standard and go through more scrutiny than their equivalents in the private sector.

[yesphan]

15. There are some

that are incompetent and some that are dishonest, but not many that are both
incompetent and dishonest at the same time.

[HappyMe]

16. No.

No more or less dishonest and incompetent than anybody else.

[Johonny]

17. If the people in government were as competent as my cable company I'd be worried.

They seem to be as competent as elected people allow them to be; take my local post office that was working great until Republicans "helped" them out.

Most government workers like their job, love America, and try there best to help you out. Often the inefficiency is due to lack of funding, staff etc...

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. No, although there are enough people who hate government in high level positions in

the government, to make government fail to work competently.

[Aerows]

19. No n/t

[mountain grammy]

21. So, by "people in government" do you mean government employees?

Like the 19 firefighters in Arizona? Let's step back and look at who government employees are. Like one poster said "they are us" but I sure wouldn't be able to run into a burning forest or teach a classroom of children. Many government employees are beyond "us" and for sure don't get the respect they deserve.

[Apophis]

23. For the most part, no.

[Bluenorthwest]

25. No more so than other groups, but why do you couple incompetent AND dishonest?

Is it not possible to be one but not the other? I think incompetence is more common than dishonesty in most walks of life.

[Democracyinkind]

26. Reductio ad absurdum.

[customerserviceguy]

28. I wouldn't go with dishonest

But incompetency is forced on people by a "corporate culture" (for lack of a better term) that breeds inefficiency. In the places I've worked where there was competition, poor work attitudes would weed those companies out. In government, or any other monopoly-like enterprise, inefficiency means more money for the organization from whatever the funding mechanism is. When you can't get a job done with ten people, requesting fifteen is the way to make your department bigger.

[LWolf]

29. Okay.

Those "beyond elected office" work for those IN elected offices. I'm sure some of them are incompetent and dishonest, and some not, but the bottom line? The buck doesn't stop with them.

In my opinion, it's not a matter of incompetence. It's a matter of integrity. As long as mainstream politicians are owned by corporations, they don't have integrity.

Edited to add: "Beyond elected office" is a huge range of people. I'm only addressing those appointed or hired by politicians.

There are clearly many, many government workers who work within a system controlled by those politicians. They aren't incompetent, but are subordinate to the system. Firefighters, teachers, social workers, etc..