Conservative? Ethical? There’s No Room for You in Government
A former FEC and Justice Department employee exposes massive liberal corruption in the executive branch. (This is part two of a three-part series. Read part one here.)
The few fellow conservatives I found in the career ranks of the Justice Department were usually people who would only secretly admit their views.
At work, they maintain the fiction that they are liberals or apolitical in order to avoid retribution. Those who are openly conservative usually have given up on ever getting promoted or are in dead-end career slots.
Once a conservative is embedded into the civil service, he becomes beholden to careerist middle managers for salary increases, vacation approval, stimulating assignments, and even office location. Conservatives worried about kids, mortgages, good benefits, and glowing performance reviews can be quick to abandon pesky principles when faced with ideologically hostile middle mangers.
The absolute fury and unrelenting hostility that I encountered as an openly conservative career lawyer at the Justice Department was something that had to be seen to be believed.
I was shunned from almost my first day on the job. My fellow career employees made it very clear that they would do everything they could to destroy me personally and professionally and drive me out of government. The only way a conservative career employee can survive isolation and pariah status is if Republican political appointees make a point of ensuring that liberal career managers do not bar conservatives from being hired or promoted, something that rarely happens.
This situation is tough to remedy, paradoxically because so few conservatives are interested in applying for government jobs. The point of this is not to hire individuals based on their political party status, but to hire qualified professionals with a conservative view of government (and the limits on its power) who will carry out the policies of conservative political appointees, instead of ignoring or fighting those policies because they disagree with them.
This critical mass of liberal career employees makes it very difficult for political appointees to implement conservative policies. The career employees do everything they can to directly and indirectly thwart those policies. I saw career employees misrepresent the law and conceal critical facts in order to oppose and stop the implementation of policies with which they disagreed.
Another tactic is to simply ignore policy directives or orders to make changes. This was aptly described by Stephen Hayes in the Weekly Standard when he related how career employees at the CIA managed to push Porter Goss out, and stop all of the changes he was trying to make, by simply slowing down or ignoring all of his directives.
Any conservative political appointee who relies on memoranda, information, or advice developed by career employees without double-checking the facts and scrutinizing the analysis is making a serious mistake. Career employees cannot be relied on to give nonpartisan, objective analysis on almost any issue. In fact, it was common to hear career employees talk about how much they hated Republicans and hated President Bush.
Many of them acted as if they worked for one of the many liberal advocacy organizations that infest Washington. This was aptly described with respect to the Department of Justice in a redistricting case arising out of Georgia in the 1990s, where a federal district court criticized the Department’s lawyers for behaving like the in-house counsel of the ACLU (and then having very convenient memory lapses about their interactions with the ACLU when questioned about it). It has only gotten worse since that decision.
One of my friends was a career staffer in the Department of Education, where most of the staff acted as if they were the NEA’s personal representatives in the Department. Another friend is a career lawyer who works on environmental issues at the Justice Department. Most of his fellow career employees think they are working for the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, rather than the American people.
One of the lawyers in the Civil Rights Division has a wife who works for the very liberal Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Whenever the resumes of new prospective employees were sent to the staff when I was there, he would get on the speaker phone in his office and describe the applicant’s background to his wife. He did not care that everyone in the surrounding offices could hear exactly what he was doing and that he was disclosing confidential personal information; his fellow liberal employees all thought it entirely appropriate to get her approval.
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Hans A. von Spakovsky served for two years as a Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission. His recess appointment ended on December 31, 2007, when the Senate failed to confirm him because of Democratic opposition to his regular nomination over his support of voter ID requirements despite the Supreme Court upholding their constitutionality. Prior to his appointment to the FEC, he spent four years at the Justice Department, the last three as a career Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
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93 Comments
1. alex:I always find it interesting that ethics and morality are brought front and center when the opponents party takes power. When your party is in office, they are the most ethical, loyal, honest, transparent politicians god saw fit to place on this earth.
Jul 11, 2009 - 2:05 am 2. Mike Murray:Stunning revelations.
Time after time, liberals reveal that their primary loyalties are to ideology and political party.
A very sad state of affairs, to be sure.
Jul 11, 2009 - 4:28 am 3. So is it:“Working for the federal government seems to instill an utter disdain for limits on governmental power.” Mr. Spakovsky is closer to the truth here than by trying to single out a particular agency or department of the government.
The rules that apply to all federal, state and local government organizations are simple. Effective empire building via the inherent secretiveness, sluggishness and stupidity of a bureaucracy. Liberalism by it’s own inherent nature enables and encourages all of this by whatever means and methods one can get away with. Conservatism does not approve of any of it.
Shifting of annual Congressional budget funds into manager’s pet projects, boon doggle trips for the purpose of a little frolicking with the office secretary away from the dangers of a suspicious wife, unwritten officer fitness grading criteria that requires the destruction of a few subordinate’s careers, highly classified inter-department agreements human behavior experiments, under the table agreements with elements of all kinds and sorts of rouge leaders in clandestine Southern Hemisphere countries, plus tens of thousands more just like it or worse are common place.
The survival rules are to prove that you are a loyal company man by particiapating and by keeping your mouth shut.
After retirement from 40+ years of this crap I eagerly looked forward to spending a little bit of my life functioning within the normal life of the free market, competitive for profit real world America has to offer.
Guess what? They don’t write books like “Cubicle Warefare” for no reason. Life in this domain isn’t like it is in the government. It is worse. Much worse. More ruthless. More vicious.
Jul 11, 2009 - 4:50 am 4. BC:Yeah, sure….
Jul 11, 2009 - 5:21 am 5. Realist:Obambi lied and Democracy died.
Jul 11, 2009 - 5:42 am 6. pelaut:Too late, Hans. Where were you and your friends the last 50 years?
Jul 11, 2009 - 5:45 am 7. "progressive"watch:The Republic was lost under your lawyerly shuffling and hedging through those 50 years, but now that you’ve got your retirement home, your pensions and your mega-SUVs, you can sit on your Patomac patio and sort of maybe confess just a wee bit to earn some expiation.
Not from this corner, Mr. Bureaurat.
This leaking and undermining must be stopped. There is a way to stop it and it has to be found. George W. Bush was less a leader than a don’t-rock-the-boat elitist Republican. Some heads should have rolled,but he wanted to be Mr. Nice Guy.
Jul 11, 2009 - 5:59 am 8. Meryl:“And no one in the media will care that career employees are being mistreated for political reasons”
So once again we are faced with the task of getting an issue to the level of critical mass by going around the state run media.
This issue of bureacrats and regulators dominating the governing of the country is nothing new, but it is problematic and needs to be increasingly highlighted.
Unless conservatives can find a way, over years obviously, to push back it won’t matter a whole lot if we win the occasional election.
Walpin’s situation demonstrates how high the problem goes and how pervasive it is, even in so-called “independent” offices.
Jul 11, 2009 - 6:33 am 9. Sam:Well, fight fire with fire. Conservatives in civil service positions should hide their political views and work just as diligently and ruthlessly to undermine progressive policy and administrations.
Jul 11, 2009 - 6:41 am 10. Adina Kutnicki,Israel:IF I did not know any better I would have concluded that the writer was referring to the inherent (mis)understanding of Israeli politics, as opposed to US politics.
People cannot grasp the concept that regardless of which party wins the election in Israel it is the policies of the left which rules.
In other words, past PM Sharon was voted into office by a decidedly right wing mandate. The citizens truly believed that with him in power right wing policies, which his platform espoused, would be implemented.
Imagine their surprise and outrage when he was the one who flipped right wing politics upside its head. As the ‘father’ of the ’settlement’ movement, it was under his rule that scores of Jewish communities were destroyed via the 2005 expulsion(euphemistically called ‘disengagement’)
Fast forward to the election of PM Netanyahu, a supposed right wing leader whose platform explicitly states NO PA State within Israel. Again, imagine the voters surprise when he announced his vision for a PA State, albeit ‘demilitarized’, whatever the heck that means.
In any case, within Israel there is a clique of several thousand highly influential leftists, from the business sector, academia, cultural arts and the media. It is through this prism and their vision that the leadership operates, in defiance to voter mandate.
The voters in both countries are irrelevant, unless they are willing to topple the leadership.
Jul 11, 2009 - 6:42 am 11. savage24:I’ve said it before, justice is not only blind but selective. With the corruption in Washington DC it is very, very selective. It is time to clean up this mess one way or another. I often wonder if there is enough rope in this country to get the job done.
Jul 11, 2009 - 6:42 am 12. homeroclon:saddly this is not a surprise.
Jul 11, 2009 - 7:12 am 13. Anonymous:Ethics and morality are only reasons to “get” your political opponents. Isn’t that the whole reason for government and power? (If we live in a backward third-world nation, that is.)
Jul 11, 2009 - 7:32 am 14. antaine:“I always find it interesting that ethics and morality are brought front and center when the opponents party takes power. When your party is in office, they are the most ethical, loyal, honest, transparent politicians god saw fit to place on this earth.”
nope, sorry, this is fallacy. i’ve not encountered a conservative that is not markedly critical of Pres. Bush (not an insane hatemonger like virtually 100% of the liberals I’ve encountered on the subject, but critical). in my life experience, it really is only the liberals who drink the kool-aid
Jul 11, 2009 - 7:58 am 15. Wynne:A tumor on the body politic.
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:07 am 16. The UnPatriot:The first question anyone should ask of any candidate for public office is:
“How many government employees are you going to fire?”
Until there is a strong counterbalance to the unrestrained growth of government, there will be no solving this problem.
–The UnPatriot
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:07 am 17. M. Report:“Trim the Roots” Japanese euphemism for
cutting an enemy off from their base.
Cut funding. Better yet, establish Prizes,
to be paid out of bureaucratic budgets,
for any private sector effort which
outperforms the bureaucracy in a
specific, proof-of-principle
effort: A privatized National Park,
Housing Project, Medicare Office,
or an Ombudsman Office with teeth.
If, as seems likely, the State refuses
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:09 am 18. ~Paules:to heal itself, then Grass-roots
private efforts will have to do the work;
They will need _really_ good legal and
political staffs.
James Madison carefully examined the nature of “faction” in Federalist Paper Ten. He believed that in a large republic the many factions would combine to counter the machinations of a single faction for control. The idea has merit if you assume that a divided government based on checks and balances has limited powers. But what happens when you get an unholy alliance between career bureaucrats, professional politicians, and a complicit press? The republic soon becomes an oligarchy whereby all power accrues to the government. History instructs us that republics are short-lived creatures. I fear the American republic has reached the terminal phase of its lifespan. Too bad. It was nice while it lasted.
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:12 am 19. hoads:The Left throughout the world is instinctively driven to acquire and wield government power. Our Founding Fathers recognized this instinctual drive and sought to erect constitutional barriers to diminish this influence but it is failing because too many good men have stood by and said nothing. This article barely scratches the surface because our government is thoroughly corrupted at all levels. How many Ensigns have there been throughout government that have continued to pay hush money or who have had to swing their vote for fear of exposure? I suspect many. I believe the amount of money exchanges and backroom deals in Washington is the true driving force of our march to the Left. Anyone believe the Washington Post “pay to play” deal was an isolated case? Hell no! This is the way our government works!
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:23 am 20. Sherab Zangpo:Thank you for your article.
The name for all that is well known: it’s called
Soviet Union.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:34 am 21. Andy:If you think this “bureaucratic thuggery” is limited to the Federal Government, well than take it from someone who has worked for a local regulatory agency. IT ISN’T. Wake Up America.
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:39 am 22. Scott:Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be going for an MPA and getting a government job and I am very conservative. Currently I plan on working for Mitt Romney while he rides to election on a wave of anti-Obama sentiment.
Jul 11, 2009 - 9:25 am 23. blotto:Alex: I kind of see what you are saying, but I disagree. You are attempting to lump us conserivatives and our pols in with progressive pols and supporters because of what Nixon did.
How many more Dem presidents and members of Congress have been indicted, or found guilty of malfeasance or some other illegality compared to GOP? For every Larry Craig-there is Barny Frank; Mark Foley there is Dan Rostenkowski and so on. But it is at the bureaucratic level where the real malfeasance and corruption takes place-and we never hear about it… That’s what this article is revealing. And to attempt to deflect or twist what the author is saying is only convincing us of the left’s true motives.
Take the current administration. How many tax cheats are on staff? Obama himself has tax, financial, and transparency questions which the sycophantic MSM refuses to cover.
What separates the two parties is that the MSM covers our mistakes with zeal and hides those of the Dems.
But to the point of the article: It is of no surprise to us Conservatives that the corrupt Dem party has, over the course of 50 years, insinuated themselves into all levels of state and federal government with the sole purpose of taking over the government.
Jul 11, 2009 - 9:47 am 24. Dave K.:Oh, boohoo.
8 years of Reagan, 4 years of Bush I, 8 years of Bush II, and, somehow, everyone in the Federal government is a backstabbing liberal?
Either the author is using anecdotal evidence to promote a particular political view or the Republicans are incompetent.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:09 am 25. gopmom:Brilliant! This article should come with a warning label. I nearly lost my lunch.
It’s nothing any of us who have ever walked into gov’t office at any level, where mediocrity rules, doesn’t know. The Left has infiltrated so deeply nothing but a machete will do. Vote in only staunch small government conservatives. Cut funding. Hey, maybe Barack’s bankrupting of the nation will do some good after all?
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:17 am 26. Jim Baker:The Federal government is a cancer that just grows and grows and becomes more and more onerous as it does. It starts as the incubator where communists can press their agenda, and ends up as the primary agent of communism. We are very close to the end up part now. And yet, we still think government can solve all of our problems. And why is that? All of us useful idiots have allowed a government labor union to educate our kids. What do you think they have learned? It is over, people. Maybe a future generation will try allowing The People to be in control of government again, but I doubt it, because we have already FUBAR our shot at it.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:28 am 27. Federale:During a civil rights investigation I had a CRD trial attorney tell me that he hated cops and that was why he was prosecuting this case.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:32 am 28. Sally/n.o.:what is there to say? business as usual and no one, but no one will do anything about any of it, especially with the current administration.
Why is this not all over CNN and MSNBC etc??? because they’re as messed up as the governemnt.
However, as we lose jobs, pay higher taxes, there is the great potential that there will be fewer and fewer taxes coming into the government to fund the corruption.
We should “outsource” Washington period.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:33 am 29. steeple:16 UnPatriot Couldn’t agree more. Start with Dept of Education, Energy, Agriculture and HUD. Others should take notice if one could get traction there.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:43 am 30. Jeff:I spent 25 years working for the government at the local, state and federal level. Local government can be a mixed bag, but at the state and federal level the “business model” was overwhelmingly directed towards expansion. Yes, the agencies were populated by liberals, from the union dominated “rank and file” to the university influenced occupants of upper management. The attitude often encountered was a version of the Helen Thomas quote – “of course I’m a liberal, I work for the government, why wouldn’t I be a liberal.”
The inherent problem in most organizations that exist without a profit motive is that they must be measured by something else. It is this something else which energizes and motivates liberals and draws them into government. I spent the last ten years of my career in policy and I can tell you from experience very few people want to accept responsibility for limiting the function of their agency in any way. Conversely, most are constantly seeking to expand it beyond the restrictions of the enabling authority. Once populated by true believers, these agencies are not thought of as separate, restricted functions, but as components of a greater cause. The working truth is that the root is too deep, too intrenched. The only way to cut it back is to trim the branches. To have a less liberal government is to have less government.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:46 am 31. truepeers:The author seems to talk about “liberals” as if they represented a political philosophy in a world where people distinguished religion/ethnicity and politics, a world where people were free to consider competing ideas and choose for themselves. But then it really seems as if he is talking about a religion, or a tribal identity, that determines one’s political loyalties. Perhaps “liberals” must be addressed as they really are – Gnostic religious – so that the terms of the struggle between uncertain freedom and totalitarian/Utopian political religion can be better grasped. Clarifying language is the first small step in fighting back. Calling them “liberals” only helps maintain their own narrative.
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:08 am 32. The UnPatriot:24 Dave K.
I think that you missed the point entirely.
–The UnPatriot
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:08 am 33. Dave K.:30.Jeff:
“Yes, the agencies were populated by liberals, from the union dominated “rank and file” to the university influenced occupants of upper management.”
So Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II were failures in that aspect?
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:09 am 34. Jim Baker:Dave K,
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:27 am 35. jw:How old are you? You seem to display a lack of cognitive reading skills, a common affliction these days.
See Parkinson’s Law on bureaucracies. The (il)liberals who are described are better described as “statists,” who think that the state is God and have no belief in the value if the liberty of the individual.
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:29 am 36. Dave K.:32. The UnPatriot:
“24 Dave K.
I think that you missed the point entirely.
–The UnPatriot”
Enlighten me. What is the point?
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:36 am 37. Buzz:Pelaut:
Hans just turned 50 in March, you idiot. He only worked in the federal government for less than 10 years, and as you might note from the article he’s TRYING to do something about the situation. Prior to coming to DC he did great work at the state/local level.
I guess you think he should’ve gotten busy reforming the Federal Civil service in the 1970’s instead of wasting so much time in Jr. High, etc.
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:44 am 38. Iaidoka:Which state will be the first to return to July 4, 1776?
Twenty years ago, I would have said New Hampshire. Now, it’s just an extension of Massachusetts, full of Massholes and the values they brought with them.
But one of the states needs to….and the others need to join in.
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:48 am 39. Jim Baker:Dave,
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:56 am 40. Dave K.:Try to read the article again. Enlightenment is rarely imparted, it is usually acquired by the use of cognition. If, after reading the article again, you still don’t see the author’s point, try indicating that you are a Republican in your interview for your next government job. If everything else fails, that should help to enlighten you about the point.
“38. Iaidoka:
Which state will be the first to return to July 4, 1776?”
You do know that we won against the British, right?
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:57 am 41. Kate:Dave24: Can you spell UNION? The dance of deception by democrats continues.
Jul 11, 2009 - 12:31 pm 42. LivefromEPTexas:Waaaah. Time to put all you
Jul 11, 2009 - 12:36 pm 43. Yephora:Babies down for for your nap. Do we have any Pablum left?
“The only way a conservative career employee can survive isolation and pariah status is if Republican political appointees make a point of ensuring that liberal career managers do not bar conservatives from being hired or promoted, something that rarely happens *BECAUSE REPUBLICANS ARE SUCH WIMPS AND DON’T STAND FOR ANYTHING ANYMORE*.”
There, edited for truth!
Jul 11, 2009 - 12:42 pm 44. Kate:EPTexas: incoherent babble.
We need more checks and balances…people like bank examiners or ombudsmen who are paid to keep others honest. I was encouraged to see that the Washington Post ombudsman didn’t buy the publisher’s claim that they didn’t know. We also need to limit the power of activist judges.
Jul 11, 2009 - 12:44 pm 45. The UnPatriot:The point is that
1) the statist mentality is so entrenched in the government bureaucracy that any idea that runs counter to government expansion is quashed,
2) that this entrenchment is so deeply ingrained that it does not matter which party is in control of which branch of government, and
3) a core aspect of “conservative” thought is that small, minimally intrusive, and government is best and this runs counter to points 1 and 2.
That a statist mentality runs hand in glove with current “liberal” political policy (do not confuse it with with classical liberal thought, which is in many respects “conservative”) has been shown time and again. An recent interview on NPR concerning nationalized health care would be an excellent case in point.
–The UnPatriot
Jul 11, 2009 - 12:44 pm 46. Marc Malone:#40 Dave K – Stupid post of the Day Award for you! It was a metaphor, dumbass! You are either being intentionally obtuse, or you are just plain obtuse.
Jul 11, 2009 - 12:48 pm 47. Dave K.:“39. Jim Baker:
Dave,
Try to read the article again. Enlightenment is rarely imparted, it is usually acquired by the use of cognition. If, after reading the article again, you still don’t see the author’s point, try indicating that you are a Republican in your interview for your next government job. If everything else fails, that should help to enlighten you about the point.”
So you’re saying that it doesn’t matter if there’s a Republican administration, because the Democratic Conspiracy has infiltrated the federal government?
If that’s the case, then Republican administrations are inefficient and inept, right?
Jul 11, 2009 - 1:32 pm 48. Iaidoka:“40. Dave K.:
You do know that we won against the British, right?”
Perhaps my sarcasm detector is malfunctioning. Or do you really not get what I mean?
Jul 11, 2009 - 1:33 pm 49. Meryl:I think Dave K is displaying deliberate ignorance.
There’s not much help for that.
Jul 11, 2009 - 2:25 pm 50. Terry Gain:@43
If that’s the case, then Republican administrations are inefficient and inept, right?
You don’t get it because you don’t understand several things. Firstly liberals are more likely to want to work in the public sector than conservatives. They tend to hire people who think like they do. Liberals therefore have become the entrenched majority.
And Reagan and Bush did not have the power to clear out the liberal dominated civil service en masse. The fact you think they could have is a telling comment about you.
Jul 11, 2009 - 2:45 pm 51. Rubicon:Hence the ’states rights’ movement. The sooner we take power away from the feds, the better off we all will be. If the feds do not have the power on issues, they will be required to downsize or explain to all taxpayers supporting their do-nothing buddies, why those people exist in a govt job at all.
Jul 11, 2009 - 2:48 pm 52. Dave K.:There are & will be great efforts to silence & marginalize anyone who calls for states rights. But, if that march can be kept up, it can eventually root out the parasite we call, liberal.
48. Iaidoka:
“Perhaps my sarcasm detector is malfunctioning. Or do you really not get what I mean?”
What did you mean?
Jul 11, 2009 - 3:10 pm 53. Dave K.:50. Terry Gain:
“You don’t get it because you don’t understand several things. Firstly liberals are more likely to want to work in the public sector than conservatives. They tend to hire people who think like they do. Liberals therefore have become the entrenched majority.
And Reagan and Bush did not have the power to clear out the liberal dominated civil service en masse. The fact you think they could have is a telling comment about you.”
So it’s futile to vote Republican, because they are powerless to change anything?
Jul 11, 2009 - 3:25 pm 54. Terry Gain:@ Dave K 33, 36 AND 53 (Apologies to 43)
The fact that they were legally and practically unable to make wholesale changes to the civil service did not make them powerless but it certainly blunted their effectiveness. This was one of the points of Mr von Spakovsky’s article, which you clearly didn’t understand.
Jul 11, 2009 - 4:28 pm 55. Chuck Pelto:TO: Hans A. von Spakovsky, et al.
RE: Actually….
…the way things are going, there’s no room in the entire COUNTRY for Conservatives and/or Ethical people.
Another piece of the ‘Plan’ has been uncovered.
Check out THIS item.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jul 11, 2009 - 4:33 pm 56. The UnPatriot:[Gird up your loins!]
53. Dave K.:
“So it’s futile to vote Republican, because they are powerless to change anything?”
And you are OK with this?
–The UnPatriot
Jul 11, 2009 - 4:34 pm 57. Chuck Pelto:P.S. But according to this bit of legislation….
….they’re planning on ‘making room’…..
Jul 11, 2009 - 4:34 pm 58. Dave K.:54. Terry Gain:
“@ Dave K 33, 36 AND 53 (Apologies to 43)
The fact that they were legally and practically unable to make wholesale changes to the civil service did not make them powerless but it certainly blunted their effectiveness. This was one of the points of Mr von Spakovsky’s article, which you clearly didn’t understand.”
Well, it is a nice scapegoat when one needs to cover for one’s own incompetence.
“The vast liberal conspiracy prevented me from being promoted!”
“The vast liberal conspiracy prevented us from implementing true Conservative policies, despite 8 years of Reagan, 4 years of Bush I, and 8 years of Bush II!”
“Liberals, liberals, nothing but liberals! LIBERAAAALS!”
Be careful. Liberals are hiding under your bed.
Jul 11, 2009 - 4:46 pm 59. Terry Gain:And when they catch you, they’ll tax you and force you to buy a hybrid car!
Davek
You stll don’t get it. If they were under our beds rather than dominating government bureaucracies we could easily deal with them. As it is, all we can do is appeal to their sense of professionalism and patriotism.
Unfortunately, as you’ve been illustrating to the point of perfection in this thread, with most liberals devotion to self and party takes precedence over any sense of principle.
Jul 11, 2009 - 5:33 pm 60. Cat:This isn’t true of only the federal government. I worked for the State of Arizona for many years and had a similar experience. Very quickly I learned to keep my mouth shut if I wanted to survive.
Jul 11, 2009 - 5:43 pm 61. BC:Hmmm…that NPR link isn’t working, but this link should work. You guys are peeing on the wrong hydrant….
Jul 11, 2009 - 6:00 pm 62. Terry Gain:BC
Atually the article to which you link proves our point and demonstrates just how difficult it is for conservatives to replace liberals in bureaucracies which are predominately liberal.
Jul 11, 2009 - 7:11 pm 63. Sandra:The more someone refutes a charge that isn’t leveled, the more curious you should be about it. Libs say they aren’t in it for the money or power… hmm.
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:17 pm 64. cdn.infidel:With the coronation of king obama, we are rapidly reaching a point in society that in order to preserve our society, we need to cull the herd, so to speak.
Jul 11, 2009 - 8:59 pm 65. paul_unalaska:hahaha.. NPR or a Minnesota paper for validity. That’s rich. Maybe the classy Sen. Franken can read us the article.
Jul 11, 2009 - 9:10 pm 66. paul_unalaska:Is Jesse the Body still infecting the 10,000 lakes?
Jul 11, 2009 - 9:17 pm 67. fear Obama:Jessie Ventura a former WWW loon and now we have Sen. Franken a former clown.
Yeah…
Minnesota is a great example of good government policy.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:17 pm 68. tanstaafl:Time after time, liberals reveal that their primary loyalties are to ideology and political party.
Very depressing situation, overall, in DC, not to mention the rest of the country.
Very few (if any) statesmen & women left in the game these days, individuals who might have some conception of serving above and beyond their own small and tedious agendas.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:19 pm 69. Jim Baker:Dave K is a troll.
Jul 11, 2009 - 10:20 pm 70. The UnPatriot:58. Dave K.:
“And when they catch you, they’ll tax you and force you to buy a hybrid car!”
The above statement is commonly known as a Freudian slip.
–The UnPatriot
Jul 11, 2009 - 11:08 pm 71. Iaidoka:49. :Meryl:
“I think Dave K is displaying deliberate ignorance.”
There’s not much help for that.”
69. Jim Baker:
“Dave K is a troll.”
Yeah. That’s fairly obvious now. I’ve been reading the comments here for a little while, but am still fairly new so I’m not sure who’s who yet.
Jul 12, 2009 - 3:49 am 72. md:Scoff as you may, this day WILL come.
Rev 21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
Rev 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things,and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
Rev 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Jul 12, 2009 - 5:06 am 73. Chuck Pelto:TO: md
RE: Heh
And probably much sooner than most people will be willing to accept.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jul 12, 2009 - 8:10 am 74. Green Eagle:[Dates in prophecy are closer than they appear in your Bible.]
Mr. Van Spakovsky:
The shunning you experienced in government may have resulted from the fact that you are a corrupt criminal.
Just be thankful for the mercy of Democrats, that you are not in prison where you belong.
Jul 12, 2009 - 3:52 pm 75. Chuck Pelto:TO: All
RE: Got This, Everyone?
We should all be grateful that we aren’t in some prison.
Then again, as I pointed out in item #55 and 57 (above)….
….it might be that they just don’t have the room for all 25 million of US that Ayers was talking about ‘liquidating’ back in the 70s-80s.
Well….
….I got something for Green Eagle, and his ilk, if they want to make good on that threat to Spakovsky. And, oddly enough, he, or more likely his parents, paid for the training.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jul 12, 2009 - 5:09 pm 76. Steve Smith:This article and it’s predecessor accurately describe the mind set; the open animosity to free markets, individual rights, and limitations on government power that are flaunted by career bureaucrats in any government body anywhere in the world.
This will never be changed because you have Big Government believers working in Big Government Heaven. It’s the very nature of the beast.
But career bureaucrats love the darkness and hate the light of day. So one thing that we can all do is to turn on the light switch in their dark room whenever possible. There is no one recipe for this; one has to be opportunistic. When a bureaucrat tries to put someone out of business, or bullies a person who is dependent on the bureaucrat’s “help”, or withholds information from the public etc etc, it may be possible to broadcast plain evidence of this philistinic behaviour. Sometimes, just a loud real time complaint in a public setting will make people aware of some questionable behaviour.
It’s hard to do, and must be fairly done. Occasionally it is possible. Mr von Spakovsky is certainly managing to flip a few light switches here.
Jul 12, 2009 - 10:34 pm 77. pelaut:Read Ludwig von Mises’ prototypal book on the subject: “BUREAUCRACY”
Jul 13, 2009 - 7:44 am 78. Rob Crawford:“Green Eagle” must be a put-on.
Jul 13, 2009 - 9:04 am 79. Chuck Pelto:TO: Rob Crawford
RE: Don’t Be….
…too sure about that. I’ve known of and encountered others who talk/feel the same way.
Remember Bill Ayers? Who said he thought they’d have to liquidate 25 million Americans who refused to accept the new order?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jul 13, 2009 - 9:17 am 80. Chuck Pelto:[Be Prepared.... -- Boys Scouts of Ameria]
P.S. Lenin and Stalin did that to 3.1 million Russians who refused to accept the new ‘Soviet’ order back in the 20s and 30s. Indeed. I believe their ‘re-education’ camps were the inspiration for Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’.
Jul 13, 2009 - 9:18 am 81. donttreadonme:Read “Witness” by Whittaker Chambers and the above revelations come as absolutely no surprise. The upper-middle and upper layers of Federal Bureaucracy are doctrinaire Communists who lead a gaggle of useful idiots in realizing the dream of a pure Socialist United States. Tinhat theory? Nope. Empirical fact.
Jul 13, 2009 - 11:03 am 82. J:Chris Dodd must go Now
Jul 13, 2009 - 1:03 pm 83. J:“Countrywide” Chris Dodd must go NOW
Jul 13, 2009 - 1:04 pm 84. avoidswork:Spanky talking about ethics is like Sanford/Ensign talking about fidelity.
Unless it is of the “I didn’t practice THIS” variety.
Why, oh why, do you allow your PeterPrinciple Hypocrites to blather on about what they themselves did not practice?
The current crop of Republicans haven’t demonstrated a “conservative” principle in quite a long time. It’s sad that you have yet to realize that.
Jul 13, 2009 - 1:45 pm 85. Mongoose:Dave K: The executive branch does not hire people directly to non-political executive positions, and it is deeply difficult to fire a federal employee. The author is not talking about political appointments, he is talking about regular government employees, including their day to day operational management. When a Republican gets in the white house he does not go to the Post Office and say “hire more republicans”. What silly ideas you have of the world.
They are overwhelmingly Democrat. That is how the Democratic Party works: More government jobs (mostly for minorities) for more votes. More government goodies for more votes.
And remember, The vast majority of government jobs by definition produce no new wealth.
Yet again, you show completely ignorance of how the real world works. Why would he lie? And if it was a lie, would it not be way to disprove/ Anyone, however, who has any dealings with the federal government, most state government and nearly all big city governments knows that almost all government employees are Democrats. Ii is just comic that you think otherwise.
The average conservative has to pretend he is not one. The same thing applies to people that work in Academia or most of the media. What planet do you live on?
You sit there an carry the water for the Democrats, but you really have no idea what they are up too.
And he is completely correct. One again, you show that you have no idea what you are talking about. You are no doubt quite young, but, as you age, it is most likely that these government employees will have better jobs than you, better benefits and a better retirement. Remember that you and your family are paying for it.
Of course, being a Democrat, you will say “well great deal, give me a government job too!”
If every one did that, who would pay for all of those parasites?
Jul 13, 2009 - 2:27 pm 86. Tri Geek:Trying to get a government job in Hawaii as a Conservative is almost as difficult as getting a University job.
Jul 13, 2009 - 2:49 pm 87. Banned by Huffpo:It all boils down to the “Golden Rule”:
He who has the gold, rules.
The federal government has the power to take your money at the end of a gun. And it does. It takes a lot, a it’s going to be taking a lot more in a few short months. Don’t like? Don’t pay, and pay behind bars.
Short of burning down the house and starting over, there’s not much you can do.
Move to another country maybe, but where can you find a country with low taxes, a free enterprise environment, freedom from excessive state involvement, and a nice climate? This used to describe the United States, but no more.
There must be somewhere to start over again with a clean slate and get it right . . . isn’t there?
Jul 13, 2009 - 6:49 pm 88. a clay:I can confirm this 100%. I worked at State for several years and saw this in action. During the Clinton inauguration, State employees were selling Clinton/ Gore sweatshirts in the cafeteria in violation of the Hatch Act without retribution. Conservatives who made it it at State tended to have air cover from a Republican Senator or be wealthy enough to cow the wannabees. Admittedly during the Clinton administration there were few conservative messages pushed through diplomatic channels, but plenty of spin was applied to policies that weren’t doctrinaire.
Jul 13, 2009 - 8:31 pm 89. Marc Malone:I tried to get a job at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, once. I never stood a chance. I’m 1/4 Apache, but it didn’t help at all, because I look white. The office was filled with gays, women, and minorites. No white men anywhere. I applied three times in corpus. They “never got my application”.
Jul 13, 2009 - 9:20 pm 90. Chuck Pelto:TO: Banned by Huffpo
RE: Is There ANY Way ‘Out’?
Actually, there is. It’s called “an act of God”.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jul 13, 2009 - 10:50 pm 91. Meryl:[Stupidity got US into this mess. Why can't it get US out?]
72.md
Agreed.
Jul 13, 2009 - 11:22 pm 92. john rings:I’m a little shocks this article makes such a comparison as liberals are the rats and the conservatives are the holy ones with out fault. D you think that these people you refer to might just has a a moral proplem with the hidden b.s. regardless of party. thank you for your time
Aug 19, 2009 - 7:40 am 93. Greg:The “secret word” as Groucho would post is PARASITE. The definition of today’s government.
Sep 30, 2009 - 9:01 pm