That's why Patterson's task will be so difficult, but it's the right way to go--at least in New York State.
An indication of how difficulties his path: that no-layoff pledge; he can't lay off AFSCME civil servants, he can only choose not to replace them when they retire. We'll be saddled with the ghosts of these sections/agencies/departments for years to come, even if Patterson is successful, which is unlikely.
I read an article about 30 years ago, which is still pertinent here: its title was "The Screwing of the Common Man." The proliferation of experts, administrators, agencies, departments is but an adumbration of that article: it's how a large number of relatively privileged can be well-paid parasites to the many, even though they don't create any real value; often, they impede its creation.
I am not anti-government, nor a conservative troglodyte. Government is not the problem. Often, it can be the solution, especially when it's directly providing a needed service. My gripe is with the proliferation of layers of administrators, administrators of administrators, or, layers of government institutions, each of which primarily look after their own interests, and of those who fund their political sponsors (governors, legislators, Congressmen, Senators, the President).
I want an effective government that can provide basic services, so that everyone can lead a decent life. That would call for a large government, one that has few administrators, and many who provide the services their citizens want. What we have in NY is big government, but one that serves the government, or its political practitioners, not the people. What more government has given, in NY, is simply more government.
What we need everywhere is better government, government that really serves the people who pay it taxes, or are too poor to do so. Otherwise, those monies we call taxes only pay for another Screwing of the Common Man.
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