In Praise of the Public Sector

In Praise of the Public Sector

Read by the author:



I'm in a particularly grumpy mood this morning as I think about the almost-completed water tower maintenance in our small town and the inconvenience that came with it. Today's newspaper had several critical letters to the editor.

I have a more-appreciative attitude. We should be grateful for the wisdom and courage of our Mayor and City Council to undertake a very necessary project that they knew up-front would bring out a lot of complaining. The fact of the matter is that the temporary inconveniences were an entirely unavoidable part of the job. It’s where we needed to go and what we needed to do. We ought to be thanking our public servants instead of giving them grief.

Sometimes we forget that government, the widely-despised “public sector,” is really us – you and me and those of our neighbors who, for some deficit of sanity, feel compelled to render an extra measure of service to their communities. And the thanks they get? A general unwillingness to grant them the resources and cooperation they need to fully achieve the many responsibilities we demand of them.

Essay: Will the real patriots please stand up?

Information and comments on the essay:

Will the real patriots please stand up?

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKa1lXMUlGYmJFS1U/edit?usp=sharing

#America #TeaParty #Liberals

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Will the real patriots please stand up?

Teachers train students to evaluate ideas by comparing and contrasting. There seem to be several strongly-contrasting ideas about what patriotism is, so let’s compare them.

Everybody seems to agree that waving and saluting a flag is patriotic. So is praising troops, singing certain songs, and setting off fireworks. I’ll agree that all of that is very nice. Symbols stand for things that have real meaning and showing respect for those symbols is not entirely without meaning. But, what else do you stand for? What personal actions and sacrifices are you willing to take as a patriot?

One vision of patriotism is standing together with existing compatriots to fight against a common enemy. Yes, that is always a good idea. We are, by definition of being “us,” inherently good. And, everyone else is an enemy and therefore always bad. Show these patriots an enemy and they will rally together, crying “death to (whomever),” shaking their fists, and even gunning up to go attack someone. Man, now THAT’S real patriotism.

A first priority for this kind of patriot is to protect their country from foreigners – people who surely want to overrun them or just somehow run them into the ground. Let’s see, that could include