Just anybody
Published September 25, 2013
by Thomas Mills, Politics NC, September 24, 2013.
Well, one thing about the Department of Health and Human Services is certain: If it wasn’t really broken before Aldona Wos showed up on the scene, it sure is now. She and her boss, the Governor, like to mention what a mess they inherited. But it’s looking more and more like a mess they made.
McCrory and Wos keep talking about this massive reform effort that is going fix a broken Medicaid system. Well, the woman they hired to oversee that effort, Carol Steckel, just left to take a more lucrative position. She was making over $200,000 a year so that must be one hell of a job.
When Wos hired Steckel, she called it the “the first big victory” in her tenure at DHHS. It also was the only victory. And since Steckel bailed after only eight months, I guess it was really just another mistake.
Since then, Wos has run off virtually every qualified senior manager at the department and hired a slew of political cronies with little or no public health experience. Every week, the department faces a new set of bad headlines. And almost every week, Pat McCrory defends Wos as a hardworking Secretary putting in long hours.
Here’s the problem. She may be working 14 hours a day, seven days a week, but if Wos doesn’t know what she’s doing she’s just spinning her wheels. And reading about Wos makes me pretty sure she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s just a rich ideologue who Pat McCrory owed a favor.
The episode, though, is emblematic of the Republicans’ perception of governing. They don’t see government as real jobs and they don’t see the people who receive government services as deserving. Real work and real experience is only gained in the private sector. Career bureaucrats and policy wonks are part of the problem so they can’t possibly be part of the solution. In GOP world, anybody can do government work, so that’s who they hire–anybody.
That’s how we get business consultants with exorbitant price tags and senior policy advisors with no policy experience. And that’s how we end up with a mess like DHHS.
September 25, 2013 at 10:21 am
TP Wohlford says:
Yeah, Doc, when I got here, my leg was hurting and bent and a wrong angle, but after YOUR people got to me, they bent it and twisted it and then it REALLY hurt! And then they operated on it, and now I have these nasty stitches! And now this big fiberglass tube covers it! I mean...
If it wasn't really broken before you showed up on the scene, it sure is now!!!
(pause)
Thomas Mills, is your duty to rally the faithful, or make new converts? Cause you sure seem to think that stirring up your normal cast of useful idiots (that's a leftist term btw) is more important than actually convincing people that you've got a good idea.
Isn't your role on NCSpin to give us the Dem talking points so we can dissect them in 30 second sound bites?
September 25, 2013 at 9:45 pm
TP Wohlford says:
You see, this is a major problem. To dissect, to critique, the other side you must first be able to show that you comprehend the other side's point of view, and articulate it in a way that the other side recognizes.
And quite frankly, none of the GOP types, none of the conservatives I talk to, believe what you just said. None. And I'm gonna go out on a limb and think I know more of 'em than you.
September 25, 2013 at 10:31 am
Norm Kelly says:
His High Holiness, the Annointed One, was crowned about 5 years ago. Since day 1 he has been blaming the Bush administration for making such a mess that they are still in the clean up phase. On a regular basis, BHO can be heard blaming Bush for a current challenge. When he's not the one mouthing the excuse, it's one of his spokespeople. Into his second term in office and he continues to blame every problem on Bush; every success he claims as his own. Which is precisely why you don't hear him claiming credit very often. Without successes, no claiming credit!
How does the press respond to the "blame Bush" story. They accept it, repeat it, and do everything in their power to confirm it.
Has it been 1 year or 2 that McCrory is in office? When it can be proved that he inherited problems, the press still wonders why it hasn't been resolved yet. And they repeat the "inherited" story with less than a little sarcasm in their "tone". The implied, sometimes stated, question is 'what is taking so long?'. Of course, the other question that gets asked by liberals is 'why did you choose those people to fix it? We would have chosen {place liberal democrat name here}'.
In every case liberals tell us that government is the solution to every problem. In fact, government is more often the cause of problems than the solution. Yes, this is stated in the blog post as a "problem" with the conservative view of government. I like to turn it around and make the statement read: the problem with liberal's view of government is that they think it can solve every problem, and there is no area of an individuals life that liberals don't think the government should get involved. The big difference is that a libertarians believe/know that personal responsibility get people further in life than government control does. Everywhere that it's been tried, central control of people's lives has failed. When the US was founded, personal freedom is what made us great. Personal freedom is what is defined in our Constitution. Limited government control of individual lives is what's defined in our Constitution.
Real experience actually is only gained in the private sector. Having to deal with competitors, actually putting customers first, having to meet a real budget, meeting real deadlines. Things that government employees and agencies do NOT experience. Private sector employees are fired when they violate the rules. Sometimes spending time in jail. Government employees are way too often put on "paid administrative leave". Wag your finger at them. Pay them to stay home while you investigate the problem. Send them to sensitivity training classes when they return to work, then let them get back to the job.
It's generally not that we see 'government as real jobs'. It's that we believe most of the tasks done by government are better done by the private sector. Allow multiple companies to do the job government employees are currently doing, get competition, get better service, maybe pay less for it. When better service is not provided, the contract does not have to be renewed. It's not that we don't believe the recipients of government largesse are not deserving. It's that we don't believe there are that many who are deserving. There are those who really do need a hand up. There are extremely few who need a handout. I know it's a fed program, but take the Obamaphone scandal as an example. Are there really that many people who need a free cell phone? I pay every month to have a cell phone. I don't get any discount. I actually pay more for my phone so millions can get their free Obamaphone. This is an example of a program that 1.) should not exist, 2.) if it is to exist, it is not well controlled. I don't understand where anyone gets the idea that a luxury item like a cell phone is an item that is to be provided free by the central government. Can anyone show where this is listed in the Constitution? Can anyone explain why my cell bill is higher than it needs to be so I can provide someone else a free phone? In NC, people who buy vacation homes along the shore get a discount on their homeowners insurance. This means that my home insurance premiums are higher so they can pay less. I don't own a beach house, but I pay insurance on a beach house. Why is this right? Where is it in the state or federal Constitutions that says I must pay for someone elses luxury?
I'm darn sick & tired of paying for other people. Libertarians expect everyone to accept a little bit of responsibility for themselves. Liberals believe that it's my responsibility to help anyone who asks for it, and will put a gun to my head (or throw me in jail) if I refuse to continue to support someone who MAY not deserve it.
I say that it is the liberals concept of government that is wrong, not the conservative/libertarian view of government that is wrong.
