I'm in a union

**Divinus Arma** · 08-09-2006, 21:50

A just got the call today. Hired for the Fire Department. Done Deal. I need to do some paperwork, basic hiring stuff, and then an orientation before engine company assignment for training.

And I'll be a union employee.

**danfda** · 08-09-2006, 21:58

Congrats, and watch yourself. Fires get warm, I hear.

And being in a union is not a good thing, what with them being out of date and all-but-useless nowadays...

**drone** · 08-09-2006, 21:58

Congrats! How's the knee, is it going to hold up?

**Strike For The South** · 08-09-2006, 21:59

yay being a fireman would be sssoooooooooo cool

**Lemur** · 08-09-2006, 22:04

Eclectic, I'm not asking this rhetorically, and I would like a serious answer -- does it ever bother you that so much of your career has involved salaries derived from tax dollars? I realize that the pay is nothing compared to the personal sacrifices and dangers you have faced, but still, it seems like there might be some friction between your strongly held beliefs and the way you put bread on the table.

**Divinus Arma** · 08-09-2006, 22:06

Originally Posted by drone

Congrats! How's the knee, is it going to hold up?

Thanks. Not too bad. A little stiff here and there with very mild pain on occasion. It was a medial meniscal tear or something like that. I indeed tore a ligament, but not as bad as I thought. It's healing okay. I get an MRI in about a week, and then a consult to see if a minor surgical procedure is recommended. I'll probably turn down the surgery, given that it would lay be out for a week or three, and I can ill afford that with the new job. I wouldn't mind getting a full repair, but life is just not going to afford me that opportunity right now. I can't turn down the best job in the world right when my little girl is coming. Daddy needs medical insurance and a paycheck.

Edit:

Eclectic, I'm not asking this rhetorically, and I would like a serious answer -- does it ever bother you that so much of your career has involved salaries derived from tax dollars? I realize that the pay is nothing compared to the personal sacrifices and dangers you have faced, but still, it seems like there might be some friction between your strongly held beliefs and the way you put bread on the table.

You must think I have an aversion to the existence of government. I'm not an anarchist. I'm a public servant by God. Let me give you the long term plan so you know where I am aiming. My career began, and will continue, in emergency service. I finish my MBA next spring and then I can start teaching at 2 year colleges online part time. 6 months after, I'll get a Master of Public Administration. Then I go right into a PhD in Public Policy from Walden U. The goal in all of this is to reach executive level emergency services management by retirement. You see, I take the position that government should be run as a business. Government administrations should be run with the same organization efficiency as a fortune 500 company. The government has cost centers and profit centers just like a regular business. Take the post office, for example. That is a profit center that can be used to turn down costs in other parts of the federal government. The same goes for law enforcement (you didn't think traffic cops just cared about saftey did you? Hellloooo city finance!), emergency medical, and other sources of non-tax income. In fact, I would like to see a government run without taxes at all. Dreaming? Maybe. But by taking elements of government that cannot be privatized and by turning them into brutally efficient revenue machines, we can trun down the cost of government and provide the customer/citizen with an improved product in every aspect. What is that product? Governance. Since we cannot be rid of it, let's do it right. I'll apply the principles of Business to the bureacracy of government, and turn the whole house upside down.

2nd Edit: By the way, my money will not be made in governance. It does the job now, but my wealth is to be made elsewhere. I'm taking a significant paycut from the military to take this job. I actually have to pull a touch of dough out of my investments to make ends meet for the next year.

**Lemur** · 08-09-2006, 22:24

Thank you for giving me a serious answer, E. Given the extremity of some of your stated positions, I wasn't sure how the circle was squared. Much obliged.

**Divinus Arma** · 08-09-2006, 22:29

Originally Posted by Lemur

Thank you for giving me a serious answer, E. Given the extremity of some of your stated positions, I wasn't sure how the circle was squared. Much obliged.

That's it? You provide with a pretty serious challenge to my integrity and all I get is a thank you?

Do I at least make sense at all to you now, 'O stripe-tailed one?

**Lemur** · 08-09-2006, 22:34

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you hanging. Yes, I do see the internal consistency in your positions and your lifestyle. As I sort-of-said, the circle is squared, and all is clear.

I really wasn't attacking you, which is why I tried to make it painfully obvious that I wanted a real answer, not an angry defense. I was wondering about it, and I wanted to know how you thought it through. You answered completely and cogently. Again, thanks.

**Divinus Arma** · 08-09-2006, 22:39

Originally Posted by Lemur

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you hanging. Yes, I do see the internal consistency in your positions and your lifestyle. As I sort-of-said, the circle is squared, and all is clear.

I really wasn't attacking you, which is why I tried to make it painfully obvious that I wanted a real answer, not an angry defense. I was wondering about it, and I wanted to know how you thought it through. You answered completely and cogently. Again, thanks.

Chocolate? It's preeeettttyyy taaaaaasssstttyyyy.... I know you want one.

**Lemur** · 08-09-2006, 22:43

The wife is making her brownies tonight. Did I mention that she worked as a gourmet chef in New York? So yeah, chocolate is a good thing.

Any Orgite who can make it to my house tonight can gorge on as much chocolate as they like. I'll roll them out to their cars personally after the fact.

**Papewaio** · 08-10-2006, 00:05

Eclectic your ideas have merit. But the Beast of Burecracy is a self serving entity that will sabotage any attempt to change it. It definitly is a master of passive aggresive strategies and obeying the letter if not the spirit of a definition to hinder people who would effect the powerbase of many inside.

Have you by chance ever watched Yes, Minister?

Anyhow given the traffic cop mention, it would be nice to see that idea widened out so that essentially all non violent crimes end up a cash cow for the government. The problem I have with a wholly user pays government is where a lot of workers take pay cuts to serve... yourself, police, teachers and other public servants (not the execs) tend to be underpaid compared with the private sector... so it would be a rather nasty society that makes those who serve others pay a larger proportion of their work time in helping to run the society.

**Geezer57** · 08-10-2006, 02:48

Eclectic and Lemur: great exchange and a fun read for me!

On a more serious side, I (and my inherent cynicism) have to agree with Papewaio's sentiments regarding the "Beast of Bureaucracy". The only way I see to inhibit its self-serving tendencies is something along the lines proposed by Robert Heinlein in his novel Starship Troopers, where significant service to society was a prerequisite for voting and holding public office. Extend that to bureaucrats, at least at the highest pay grades, and you just might limit the beast a bit.