[MD] US democracy at work?

[John Carl]

Ian,

>
>
> A contract is a contract, whether your employer is public or private.
> If public it is important that the "civil service" is separate from
> partisan government, so that arrangements don't flip-flop with the
> ballot box.



What if the party contracting services, (govt.) sits down at the bargaining
table with the party that got them elected (deep-pockets unions)?  Where are
the checks and balances in such an equation?  No wonder pensions and
benefits for public service employees have done nothing but go higher and
higher.  Here in California, we saw this pattern displayed in full with the
collusion of the prison guards and the teachers getting Gray Davis elected,
just in time to renegotiate the sweetest deals imaginable.  However, once
locked in, subsequent Republican administration (the governator) can do
nothing to make those contracts void.  And really, what government official
really cares?  It's the taxpayer who is screwed.  There's   advantages to
either side, Republican or Democrat to have a highly compensated civil
service sector.

This is one of the most egregious examples of what happens when
special-interest-oriented government evolves.  The taxpayers don't have a
seat at the bargaining table and usually they can be pacified with buzzword
campaigns to "build prisons" or "boost education".  Never mind that the
actual cost of accomplishing these goals far outweighs the meager benefits
accrued, in modern politics, feel good is all.

The only hope for a return to balance is a rather negative one - total
system collapse.  Coming to a state capital near you.

Soon!

John