Our Current Situation
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Lisa Saye
August 24, 2019
Fantasy, Guangzhou, China. Photo by Lisa Saye © 2018
The Big Idea
In an idealized world, the public sector is completely efficient. It has no problems, no delays, no funding shortfalls and not one unmotivated employee. An idealized public sector works collaboratively with an even-tempered and highly patient and understanding public. The public sector ship is steadied by a competent bureaucrat who has a safe pair of hands and a large commitment to service. In this kind of environment, trust is both a given and a result. In this kind of environment, public service is rewarding and being served is pleasant. In an idealized public sector, service is expected and ideology is drowned.
Unfortunately, the previous paragraph is loaded with fantasy. Governments everywhere experience everything from angry and incompetent public servants to angry and impatient citizens. Most of the anger comes from the tension arising out of functionally distorted fantasy about government’s role in providing public services and citizen gratitude in receiving those services. It goes without saying that fantasy has no place in the public sector. It also needs to be restated that government’s role and citizen gratitude rarely meet at any significant level or for any significant amount of time.
At this point, the perfect transition sentence would include a remark about how much we, as public servants, participate in the fantasy of idealized public service. The next sentence would analyze that participation then move rather quickly toward finding a resolution. Then we would begin to spout off our usual series of questions. Most primarily, we would again ask ourselves what we needed to do to better serve our citizens; the question has become our go-to default question. We ask it over and over again as if repeating it at different intervals in our careers somehow means it has never been asked before. It is a fanciful question, full of empty symbolism and one in which we know the answer.
As public servants, we know that what we do goes beyond conducting a technical or transactional function. We know that politics should not give meaning to any decision we make in disseminating services to eligible and needy citizens. We know that we serve at the pleasure of the public agenda and that we do not serve personal agendas nor the agendas of those that are currently in power. We know that the fantasy structures of disconnect and discrimination have no place in the public sector and we know that to serve the public they must be dismantled and rejected. And finally we know that the theory of public service is founded on a host of shared experiences that work together to help one’s fellow human when he or she is in need.
Therefore, we must abandon the occasional questions that search yet again for a better way to do what we already know we should be doing. Our citizens are an inventory of best practice suggestions. As such, we should take inventory of our public inventory and at last abandon fantasy for real service. In doing so, we move ever closer to the ideal public servants we aspire to be while moving closer to a more ideal type of government.
Our Current Situation
At present, a significant number of economists and political scientists believe that the United States is headed for a recession. They predict that it could happen in less than one year from now. With countries and currencies of countries so interconnected through trade and tariffs, a prediction that the United States is headed for a recession may in actuality mean that the world is headed for a recession. Whether or not one believes the warnings, one cannot escape the timing of the current debate in the United States around public entitlements. We have returned to a familiar discussion about who deserves what. It is a place we find ourselves each time with poorly administered tax breaks, and fiscal plans fail to generate predicted riches.
At such a time as this, public servants must offer a coherent voice of opposition against the usual narrative aimed at limiting or eliminating crucial services that the public needs. We must point out that citizens are not political chess pieces that one moves around a make-believe board of public services. We are tasked with meeting citizens’ needs through established government agencies and organizations. Those needs are real and the remedy, relief and resolution of those needs for our citizens have always been our current situation.
The copyrighted ‘Fantasy’ image was taken by Lisa Saye in Guangzhou, China.
Author: Lisa Saye is Acting Chair of the Division of Social Sciences and Humanities and Associate Professor of Public Administration at American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. On July 9, 2019, Dr. Saye delivered the Pre-Departure Orientation Keynote Address at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for Fulbrighters leaving for Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Saye served as Fulbright Specialist in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and as International Consultant for the United Nations Development Program in The Maldives. Saye earned her Master’s in Human Resource Management at Troy University and her Doctorate in Public Administration at The University of Alabama. She can be reached by email at [email protected].
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Our Current Situation
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Lisa Saye
August 24, 2019
Fantasy, Guangzhou, China. Photo by Lisa Saye © 2018
The Big Idea
In an idealized world, the public sector is completely efficient. It has no problems, no delays, no funding shortfalls and not one unmotivated employee. An idealized public sector works collaboratively with an even-tempered and highly patient and understanding public. The public sector ship is steadied by a competent bureaucrat who has a safe pair of hands and a large commitment to service. In this kind of environment, trust is both a given and a result. In this kind of environment, public service is rewarding and being served is pleasant. In an idealized public sector, service is expected and ideology is drowned.
Unfortunately, the previous paragraph is loaded with fantasy. Governments everywhere experience everything from angry and incompetent public servants to angry and impatient citizens. Most of the anger comes from the tension arising out of functionally distorted fantasy about government’s role in providing public services and citizen gratitude in receiving those services. It goes without saying that fantasy has no place in the public sector. It also needs to be restated that government’s role and citizen gratitude rarely meet at any significant level or for any significant amount of time.
At this point, the perfect transition sentence would include a remark about how much we, as public servants, participate in the fantasy of idealized public service. The next sentence would analyze that participation then move rather quickly toward finding a resolution. Then we would begin to spout off our usual series of questions. Most primarily, we would again ask ourselves what we needed to do to better serve our citizens; the question has become our go-to default question. We ask it over and over again as if repeating it at different intervals in our careers somehow means it has never been asked before. It is a fanciful question, full of empty symbolism and one in which we know the answer.
As public servants, we know that what we do goes beyond conducting a technical or transactional function. We know that politics should not give meaning to any decision we make in disseminating services to eligible and needy citizens. We know that we serve at the pleasure of the public agenda and that we do not serve personal agendas nor the agendas of those that are currently in power. We know that the fantasy structures of disconnect and discrimination have no place in the public sector and we know that to serve the public they must be dismantled and rejected. And finally we know that the theory of public service is founded on a host of shared experiences that work together to help one’s fellow human when he or she is in need.
Therefore, we must abandon the occasional questions that search yet again for a better way to do what we already know we should be doing. Our citizens are an inventory of best practice suggestions. As such, we should take inventory of our public inventory and at last abandon fantasy for real service. In doing so, we move ever closer to the ideal public servants we aspire to be while moving closer to a more ideal type of government.
Our Current Situation
At present, a significant number of economists and political scientists believe that the United States is headed for a recession. They predict that it could happen in less than one year from now. With countries and currencies of countries so interconnected through trade and tariffs, a prediction that the United States is headed for a recession may in actuality mean that the world is headed for a recession. Whether or not one believes the warnings, one cannot escape the timing of the current debate in the United States around public entitlements. We have returned to a familiar discussion about who deserves what. It is a place we find ourselves each time with poorly administered tax breaks, and fiscal plans fail to generate predicted riches.
At such a time as this, public servants must offer a coherent voice of opposition against the usual narrative aimed at limiting or eliminating crucial services that the public needs. We must point out that citizens are not political chess pieces that one moves around a make-believe board of public services. We are tasked with meeting citizens’ needs through established government agencies and organizations. Those needs are real and the remedy, relief and resolution of those needs for our citizens have always been our current situation.
The copyrighted ‘Fantasy’ image was taken by Lisa Saye in Guangzhou, China.
Author: Lisa Saye is Acting Chair of the Division of Social Sciences and Humanities and Associate Professor of Public Administration at American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. On July 9, 2019, Dr. Saye delivered the Pre-Departure Orientation Keynote Address at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for Fulbrighters leaving for Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Saye served as Fulbright Specialist in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and as International Consultant for the United Nations Development Program in The Maldives. Saye earned her Master’s in Human Resource Management at Troy University and her Doctorate in Public Administration at The University of Alabama. She can be reached by email at [email protected].
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