Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Support the EPA'ers?

Soldiers die. It's part of the job description. When they get called to duty there is a good chance they will be put in a situation that will lead to their death. Same with firemen, police, etc. Yet, the people who die don't really have any say on what they go to die for. Could be to retaliate against a homeland assault or to advance a wealthy elites access to resources. But they die nonetheless and we feel bad. Their sacrifice makes us ashamed of staying safe behind our 50" TVs. So we give them carte blanche as far as our tax dollars and support is concerned for better or worse.

Yglesias asks what if we had that same view for our other govt organizations?

And if you think about a comparable situation with the civilian bureaucracy, you’ll see that things are very difficult. It’s not a serious problem if a Republican president pursues a course that senior career officials at the Environment Protection Agency believe are destroying the planet. Nobody says we need to “support the Civil Rights Division litigators” or “give the social services workers the resources they need to finish the job” of fighting child poverty.


Instead of "Support our Troops" yellow ribbon bumper magnets how about a recycle sign magnet with "Help the Folks Who Help Us Drink Clean Water: EPA". It doesn't roll of the tongue as well but gives us something to think about.

1 comment: