Posted by
Scott Ott on Saturday, August 01, 2009 9:13:47 AM
It seemed a benign (almost self-evident) statement when I posted it at
Facebook: "Government should be limited, effective, frugal and totally
focused on the customer."
A friend responded: "How do you measure effectiveness? Government does
not run on profit or return. Measurement of life, liberty and happiness
is subjective."
It's a great question, but perhaps the premise is flawed, and we'll have to go back a few years to deal with that.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are
unalienable rights with which we are
endowed by our Creator, as all know who have read the
Declaration of Independence. Governments are instituted,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed in order
to secure these rights,
not to provide rights or blessings (because God has already provided them).
In other words, government protects each of us from others who would
violate our God-given rights. "Others" include those in government,
which is why the Declaration says the power comes from those who are
governed. It is not inherent within the governors.
So, to determine the effectiveness of government, one need not measure
output of life, liberty or happiness, but rather one should measure
infringements on those rights, and seek to diminish those, because they
are offenses to both the men who receive rights and to God who grants
rights.
The government most effective is the one that treads least on the
natural rights of men, and that reliably punishes others who impinge
upon or trample those rights. This sends a clear signal that here, in
America, people are free and responsible.
Let's bring this
up to the local level. (Yes "up". The
smaller the unit of government, the closer to the people, the higher it
ranks in order of significance.)
Lehigh County (Pa.) government administers courts, jail, district
attorney and public defender, sheriff, coroner, and public records
(wills, deeds, voter registration), among other things. In addition,
the county government runs a vast 'human services' operation, that is
for the most part mandated by, and largely funded through, the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal government. The county
also maintains 46 bridges -- no roads, just bridges.
The 897-page Lehigh County budget contains no fewer than 60 separate
"funds" -- from mental health, to liquid fuels, to gaming, to
composting -- most of which represent local efforts to comply with the
demands of remote politicians and bureaucrats in Harrisburg and
Washington D.C..
Even a cursory glance at the size and scope of this $405 million per
year, 2,197-employee operation, makes one wonder how the word
"effectiveness" could barge into the conversation.
Government is not a free enterprise business, but that doesn't mean
that sensible, effective business practices and processes do not apply.
In fact, there's much that government can learn from successful and
unsuccessful businesses.
To stretch the analogy, Lehigh County government is a conglomerate, or
a holding company, for a wide-range of enterprises, each bearing the
Lehigh County brand, but often having little obvious relation to each
other beyond that. Sensible managers of conglomerates look for natural
links among business units -- resource sharing, pooled purchasing,
networking, etc. -- but such leaders must also allow a level of
independent operation for each business unit, so that they're not
hindered in the execution of their particular missions by the
bureaucratic weight of the whole.
Yes, the image of herding cats comes to mind. And while a pack of cats
can't easily be chased, they can be led. The job of leadership is to
set the expectations in broad terms for fiscal prudence, performance
excellence, and customer service...and then, in conjunction with the
leaders of each unit, to develop benchmarks for what effectiveness
looks like in each realm, and then to hold them accountable to those
measures.
Effective courts swiftly and justly administer the law. How fast? The
leaders must determine not just what's possible, but what constitutes
fairness to the aggrieved and the accused alike.
Humans services units deliver state-mandated aid to needy "clients" in
a way that equips them, if possible, to function without such aid.
Effectiveness measurement here might consist not so much of 'hours
spent' or 'funds disbursed', but of clients released, who have become
independent of government assistance. Another measure might be how much
human services work can be transferred back to the private sector in
order to increase accountability, results and the administration of
genuine love, mercy and compassion.
Of course, a wise leader of a conglomerate also knows when to spin off
a division for the good of that unit and of the whole. Government
should do what government must do with excellence. But much of what
government now does would be better handled in the private sector.
To sum up, each unit of government must develop its own set of
effectiveness measures, keeping in mind that government secures
God-given rights, it does not confer them. This may require what will
seem to many in government like a radical re-imagining of their roles.
And that is just what is needed, as long as it is done within the
confines of our Founders' stated vision for this great nation.
What might happen if each government employee asked himself at the
close of each day: "Today, how did I secure the blessings of liberty on
behalf of the people of Lehigh County?"
Better yet, what might happen if that person had both empirical
(objective) and anecdotal (subjective) standards by which to answer
that question.
Scott Ott is candidate for Lehigh County Executive.