What is Public Service?

[Too Tall]

This


This

[chasea]

This was the final vote in approval for me to move to Europe, right?

[jitahs]

If GG is who I think she is she'd say 'tis nothing. I'm just the latest example of generations of Mericans who came before me.
Too rare now.

[Dorman]

They actually spent time ($) to decide to set a limit on $. Lame. I get to report to jury duty on 8/15. I'm not kool with this. I've worked for the govt. and the govt. is not right. It is not the fault of the workers, it is the legislators lining friends pockets that are to blame. For all of it....

[joosttx]

Amen.

[Too Tall]

Duly note Dorman.

Yes, it's Gabby. I'll just appreciate what this does and how it inspires others.

There are moments in our lives when something happens. That "something" will if for a moment wipe clean agendas, contentious debate and it is clear and obvious to all with the eyes that g-d gave them to see that something greater is before them. At these times we look inward to see if we compare.

That was an moment.

[bikinchris]

I would say get rid of all of them, but the ones who would replace them are just as bad.

[Too Tall]

I would say get rid of all of them, but the ones who would replace them are just as bad.

For shame Chris. Service to fellow man has no color.
Go do 10 hill repeats. xxoo

[bikinchris]

For shame Chris. Service to fellow man has no color.
Go do 10 hill repeats. xxoo

I would, but I would have to go as far as Arkansas to find a hill. I knew a honest politician once. He spent one term and would not run again.

[ericpmoss]

I knew a honest politician once. He spent one term and would not run again.

We (collectively) are responsible for this -- who votes for someone who says the Iraq war will cost $200 billion when the other guy says it will be free? Dishonest people are attracted to the rivers of power and money -- always have and always will. It's *our* responsibility to find out when the family values candidate just happens to be married to the Walmart exec that wants special zoning for a new store. What's that phrase... 'just sayin'?

[SeanEasley]

I saw it in a guy named Eric Newby from the san diego sierra club chapter. He did projects like standing around outside grocery stores collecting signatures for a petition to the cali. air resource board to try to hold the auto makers accountable to a quota of zero emission vehicles in their fleet (a bill which they and the oil lobby eventually gutted after they promised to build the cars). And also canvassed neighborhoods that bordered on steep canyons to get support for a bill preserving that vanishing ecosystem. That was just in the several months that I knew him and occasionally helped out. I have moved on, I'd bet he's still there plugging away at some new lost cause. People like that give me hope. I also give to the sierra club b/c of him.

[dave1215]

this is public service ---> Long Bicycle Rides Southern Fance Spring Camp

[Too Tall]

this is public service ---> Long Bicycle Rides Southern Fance Spring Camp

HA! Nice, thanks Dave.

Thanks for reading.

[Ben]

I would say get rid of all of them, but the ones who would replace them are just as bad.

I'm sure it was said mostly tongue-in-cheek, Chris, but this "all politicians are awful" line has gotten old with me. There are those of us who do our dead-level best at this often-difficult, sometimes impossible job. Our reward? Well, as a local elected official, I take 10-15 hours a week away from my law practice for the princely sum of $200 a month, and the opportunity to get stopped at supper (last Friday), a concert (Saturday night) and the grocery store (Sunday) so that people can tell me their gripes about the city. And the fringe benefit is that I (and my friends and family) get to read on the internet and in my email what a stupid, crooked scumbag I am. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you get threatened. If you're really lucky, like Mrs. Giffords, you get shot in the head.

If you want to know why more good people don't run for office, there's part of the reason. Would you want a job that demands enormous personal sacrifice, that pays less than every comparable job someone of your abilities could get, that affords you the opportunity to get condescended to by people who couldn't do the job in the first place, and that is esteemed by the public somewhere between used-car salesmen and pedophiles? You get what you expect. If you say "all politicians are scumbags" loud enough and long enough, eventually only scumbags will be willing to be politicians.

Public service is a noble calling, and 90% of the people who pursue it are decent, honest people. I'm as frustrated by this Congress as anyone, but insulting the people who try to fight the uphill battle doesn't do anyone any good.

[Ben]

I need to add -- sorry if that was over-the-top grumpy. It should be fairly obvious that I'm in a weird place right now and I think I may have taken some frustration out on you that was unwarranted.

[dave1215]

...fight the uphill battle...

i don't disagree with anything you said

but i wonder if the political rhetoric of "fighting" and "battles"
doesn't just make it more difficult for politicians to do their jobs

[steve garro]

I am sooooooooo proud of Gabby! I almost freakin' cried.
- Garro.

[Ben]

i don't disagree with anything you said
but i wonder if the political rhetoric of "fights" and "battles"
doesn't just make it more difficult for politicians to do their jobs

Your point is well taken. I should clarify that I almost never think of those who disagree with me as "enemies," or of politics as a "battle." But you're absolutely right -- there are those who do think in those terms, and they're not helping.

In lots of ways, the fight is internal. To take the next step in my political career, for example, I'd have to run for the state legislature. That would mean spending months upon months in Nashville, four and a half hours away from my home, at a salary of $19,000 a year, in a legislative body that frequently looks like a cross between a circus and an insane asylum. And that's if I win. I love this state dearly, and think I could make a valuable contribution, but that's a pretty massive internal struggle.

[Too Tall]

Your point is well taken. I should clarify that I almost never think of those who disagree with me as "enemies," or of politics as a "battle." But you're absolutely right -- there are those who do think in those terms, and they're not helping.

In lots of ways, the fight is internal. To take the next step in my political career, for example, I'd have to run for the state legislature. That would mean spending months upon months in Nashville, four and a half hours away from my home, at a salary of $19,000 a year, in a legislative body that frequently looks like a cross between a circus and an insane asylum. And that's if I win. I love this state dearly, and think I could make a valuable contribution, but that's a pretty massive internal struggle.

"I love this state dearly, and think I could make a valuable contribution, but that's a pretty massive internal struggle."
Public service

Sounds like your heart is in the right place Ben.

[bikinchris]

Every one of the people on the hill who talk of the "other side" have forgotten that we are all on the same team; the UNITED States of America.