As noted in this Shrinkwrapped piece we recently linked the young, the immature and the foolish may harbor fantasies that a politician can have any positive effect on their lives.
They will learn...maybe - if they are able to learn and grow from experience. Truth is that only I can shape - or redeem - my gift of life.
Interesting piece by Goldsmith (former Mayor of Indianapolis and now Harvard Prof) in The American: What's Left for Government To Do? He asks what the core functions are of governments in the free world. It's a damn good question.
One quote:
Functions such as law enforcement and public safety are typically considered inherently governmental. But as the mayor of Indianapolis for two terms (1992–1999), I outsourced the operation not only of a jail but also of an airport and a utility—with good results. It was hard not to be amused, as the GAO panel debated the definition of an inherently governmental function, by the fact that the federal building we were meeting in was under the protection of a private security firm. Even if we could agree on core government functions that had to be walled off from contractors, we would be left with a thorny question: what happens when government turns out not to be very good at inherently governmental work?
