2008 Woodie Awards
Government currently an incompetent institution
By Mike Goodwin
Rocket Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/17/06 Section: Opinion
Is there ever an acceptable excuse for government breakdown? I'm not talking about Republican versus Democrat here. Have that argument with some naive liberal or conservative who think their way is the only way. I'm talking about gross incompetence, complete negligence and a stone cold lack of concern for America's future.
My opinions on government as a whole have little bearing on my actual political affiliation. While anyone can easily peg me as liberal or democratic, I'm not a closed-minded, fetus-killing, legalize-all-drugs advocating, tree-hugging environmentalist unopen to debate. Very few people actually are. I've said it before and I'll say it again: honesty, compromise and positive discussion are desperately needed in a country willingly dividing itself over a few social issues.
I've referenced my feelings about government here before but I want to specifically point out individual occurrences to detail its, in my eyes, current ineffectiveness, and how it affects our lives. My opinion is not that it's administrative, but rather, bureaucratic and political. Whether you blindly follow the ideals of the president and his administration or actively undermine them is not my problem; it is an entirely different issue I'm tired of hearing about simply because of its dividing nature among stubborn people.
So, to begin, in what I consider the least of our problems, Dick Cheney shot a guy. I dedicate Rage Against the Machine's cover of, "How I could just Kill a Man," in tribute for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being, humorous comparison of hiding information about the man he shot to hiding information about people being shot in Iraq. But this is more physical and mental ineffectiveness then governmental.
The story actually pertains to you because it was delayed in reaching the public and is still receiving a certain amount of deflection (at the time of this writing) from Press Secretary Scott McClellan, the gatekeeper of what little information the White House ever actually gives. The situation reflects much of what politics has been doing since Nixon (if not even further, but I'm no historian) with an increased effort nowadays to control information as a way of maintaining popularity.
My opinions on government as a whole have little bearing on my actual political affiliation. While anyone can easily peg me as liberal or democratic, I'm not a closed-minded, fetus-killing, legalize-all-drugs advocating, tree-hugging environmentalist unopen to debate. Very few people actually are. I've said it before and I'll say it again: honesty, compromise and positive discussion are desperately needed in a country willingly dividing itself over a few social issues.
I've referenced my feelings about government here before but I want to specifically point out individual occurrences to detail its, in my eyes, current ineffectiveness, and how it affects our lives. My opinion is not that it's administrative, but rather, bureaucratic and political. Whether you blindly follow the ideals of the president and his administration or actively undermine them is not my problem; it is an entirely different issue I'm tired of hearing about simply because of its dividing nature among stubborn people.
So, to begin, in what I consider the least of our problems, Dick Cheney shot a guy. I dedicate Rage Against the Machine's cover of, "How I could just Kill a Man," in tribute for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being, humorous comparison of hiding information about the man he shot to hiding information about people being shot in Iraq. But this is more physical and mental ineffectiveness then governmental.
The story actually pertains to you because it was delayed in reaching the public and is still receiving a certain amount of deflection (at the time of this writing) from Press Secretary Scott McClellan, the gatekeeper of what little information the White House ever actually gives. The situation reflects much of what politics has been doing since Nixon (if not even further, but I'm no historian) with an increased effort nowadays to control information as a way of maintaining popularity.
