Sunday, March 21, 2010

Haves vs. Have Nots

I open up the opinion page of the paper every day, even though I vow not to.  For some reason, I really care what overly opinionated people have to say.  The guest writers can be entertaining and insightful (George Will), while others are written to be downright abrasive and obnoxious.  Most of all, I enjoy local editorials.  It's my guilty pleasure I suppose.  PSSA Prep Analogy: Mr. C is to editorials as high school students are to: a) Tool Academy b) Call of Duty c) Jersey Shore.


A number of folks have voiced their opinion over the health care reform debate deciding to focus on the health care plan that members of congress are afforded.  "If the new health care plan is so good, why doesn't everyone in Washington go on it to see what it's like?"  Fact of the matter is that these people need the cushy health care plans and pensions that they are given.  Otherwise, nobody would do a public service job where you are raked over the coals for every decision that you make.  The same holds for folks that complain about teacher pensions, but I'm going to avoid opening that can of worms.

Public office needs to be an attractive position, as such, there are perks.  Do we want people representing us just because they need a job?  Again, the teacher pension and benefits situation applies here.  Public office is an incredibly high stress position.  Everyone loves to say that our representatives are incompetent, but that just can't be the case.  Someone that was completely incompetent for the position would work out to be a complete disaster. 

There needs to be a public servant appreciation day, thanking our public servants for the 8 million good things they do for us every day.  We don't need to hang them for 1 or 2 bad things that happen.  I go back to the schools example.  Teachers, administrators, and school board members do a million great things every day on behalf of their schools.  It's a shame that one or two unpopular or bad decisions can overshadow those great things.

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