Trump and the MAGA movement have used their conspiratorial belief in a “deep state” to suggest that all government workers engage in nefarious efforts to change “their” America into the hellscape pictured by Trump’s disordered brain.
The article begins by explaining the genesis of a little-known award issued by the Partnership for Public Service.
Founded the year before by an entrepreneur named Samuel Heyman, it set out to attract talented and unusual people to the federal workforce. One big reason talented and unusual people did not gravitate to the government was that the government was often a miserable place for talented and unusual people to work. Civil servants who screwed up were dragged before Congress and into the news. Civil servants who did something great, no one said a word about. There was thus little incentive to do something great, and a lot of incentive to hide. The awards were meant to correct that problem. “There’s no culture of recognition in government,” said Max Stier, whom Heyman hired to run the Partnership. “We wanted to create a culture of recognition.”
The award got off to a slow start. Among the first recipients were two FBI agents who cracked the cold case of the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.
Another went to a doctor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who designed and ran a program that delivered a billion vaccinations and eradicated polio in India. A third was given to a man inside the Energy Department who had been sent to a massive nuclear waste dump outside Denver, containing enough radioactive gunk to fill 90 miles of railroad cars, and told to clean it up. He finished the project $30 billion under budget and 60 years ahead of schedule — and turned the dump into a park.
All these people had done astonishing things. None had much to say about them. The Partnership called the Colorado guy to see if he wanted to explain the miracle he’d performed. “I just managed the project,” he said. End of story. No story.
This year’s list included a woman at the Agriculture Department who reduced food waste by creating products from fruits and vegetables unsuitable for market, a 400 billion dollar problem; a man in the EPA who conceived and started a service called AIRNow that supplies Americans with the best air-quality forecasts in the world; and a special agent at the Drug Enforcement Administration who led a team that seized 919,088 capsules of especially lethal fentanyl.
The bulk of the article–and although it is fascinating, it is definitely “bulky”–focused on this year’s winner: a man named Christopher Mark, who led the development of “industry-wide standards and practices to prevent roof falls in underground mines, leading to the first ever year (2016) of no roof fall fatalities in the United States.”
Mark is identified as a former coal miner. That description is accurate, although incomplete: he earned a doctorate in engineering after rejecting college for a few years of mine work and political activism after high school. He has used his fixation with mine safety to solve problems previously thought to be insoluble, and in the process has saved many lives.
As Mark has noted, improvements in mine safety relied upon more than just his very significant breakthroughs. In response to a suggestion that his innovations had been the sole reason for the dramatic safety improvements, he clarified that two things had been necessary: new knowledge plus legislation enhancing enforcement. It took enforcement to ensure that mine owners would actually follow the rules and put the new knowledge into practice. “What actually happened was the regulators were finally empowered to regulate. Regulators needed to be able to enforce.”
The article is fascinating, not simply for Mark’s story, but for its rare–and refreshingly honest–look at government work.
When I joined the Indianapolis city administration back in 1977, I brought with me many of the widespread negative impressions of “government workers,” who were–I assumed–folks unable to get jobs in the private sector, people who worked relatively short hours, etc. It didn’t take long for me to discover how very wrong I was. There were certainly some duds, as there are in every workplace, but most of the people I worked with during my three-year stint as head of City Legal were whip smart and devoted to public service. Many worked long hours. Almost all of them cared deeply about what Mayor Bill Hudnut used to call “building a great city.”
They’re the real “deep state.” We’re fortunate to have them.
Thanks for this nice report about smart people doing good work. 🙂
When I saw the title of today’s blog and read the first paragraph, I thought, here we go, prepare to be depressed. (Good lede, by the way!) But far from being depressed, I now have begun my day feeling happy and (cautiously) optimistic. Thanks for that!
The cautious part is due to the fact that regulations are so necessary for so many things, not just the mining industry, to ensure safety and quality of life. And regulations are high on the MAGAts’ hit list. So, vote BLUE up and down the ballot!
I always enjoy reading positive newsletters in the morning. A great way to start the day!
So many people have NO IDEA what the government does for them. It’s sad. This was a great post!
Thank you for sharing this story. As one of those “government workers”, I can attest to the long hours. I can also tell you that, as a whole, most of the workers and especially those in any governmental management position are woefully under paid.
Why do people put up with long hours and low pay? One woman I met in DC told me, ” People move to New York to make money. They move to DC to make a difference.” That’s why I was there.
This is one of the reasons why Trump and his cult followers are so embarrassing when they claim, as Project 2025 does, that the deep state is associated with the “unloyal government employees.” If you remember, during Trump’s presidency, there was a record amount of turnover from his chosen team. According to Brookings, the final tally for his term was 92%:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/
There were many more outside his chosen ranks, especially when Covid hit. Anyway, his cult followers believe that public sector employees are the deep state – especially all those who’ve been involved in holding Trump accountable for his poor decisions.
When you point out the donor class and their think tanks in Washington, they refer to Soros as the only Demonic leader wishing to destroy America. He’s Satan because he funds the Democratic Party. When I point out Koch’s dark network, which controls the Republican Party, I get the cultish response of, “The Kochs love America – they are Patriots.”
The oligarchic-controlled media (also part of the deep state) is not interested in the good news stories from public sector employees since they’re just doing their jobs. And yes, they are underpaid and overworked because they are salaried employees.
Project 2025 wants to replace up to 50,000 public employees with loyal Trump minions. If his A-list had a 92% turnover over four years, can you imagine the damage his faithful cult followers would do to the federal government if given a chance? It would be an epic disaster starting in 2025.
“Trump and the MAGA movement have used their conspiratorial belief in a “deep state” to suggest that all government workers engage in nefarious efforts to change “their” America into the hellscape pictured by Trump’s disordered brain.”
Thank you for writing this Sheila; it is a perfect description of who Magamen are, and now that it has been revealed in writing in Projects 47 and 2025, are trying to deny.
Certainly, Trump’s brain is disordered, but it is also in decline, in denial, and self-centered.
And he demands the same brains from his followers to show their loyalty.
I have mixed feelings as one who retired after 31 years of Federal Employment over a period of 32 years – I left paid employment June 30, 2006. Loyalty – to Management always except once (the one time I got promoted) was valued over – “Customer Service” (unless one’s upper bosses were “the customer”). Quantity and Quality of Work – INCLUDING “pleasing the public – helping them get what they were seeking” – was rarely valued. I was lucky to have tenure and to be able to retire at age 55 (90 days later I chose) and often to have flexible hours to work. For me it was Social Security and two branches of the Department of Labor – typical of this was The Head of Our Program -2 months before I retired saying to a silent and astounded staff (small number): “You do know that our wage surveys have no statistical validity” (to which we obediently did not respond: “Then why are we doing them?”
10 state highway workers, 9 with broken shovels… trucker talk. its the same ol slam when ya dont do the work. truckin aint much diffrent. when you add the time away, the everyday diffrent attitude from people your contracted to haul for,and attitudes of who we are when we show up to deliver. your ass just got padded, and ya throw dirt on us all day. looking down into cars speeding past cause were in your way,as you merrily stroke your cell phone with no regard i could crush your car (and you)by your own ignorance around us. no rewards here, were private enterprise, the poster child of next to poverty. its nice to be able to deal with mostly the same faces everyday. out here we deal with hundreds/thousands people who dont give a rats ass if we live or die,as long as were not in your way..ass padded move on, dont park here,its your issue, no matter how,your gonna kill yourself to pass us, then slam on your brakes to teach us a lesson, (thats called delibertly causing a accident) i could go on. but please, enjoy that joe and stay ahead far enough so we dont crush your day.
just remember,few if anyone is standing inline today to drive a truck.(see above why)and if they are, they probably will work for nothing,and thats the tallent you demand when we cant get a decent dollar for hauling your paddings. its a cut throat buisness, and no one wants to be in it anymore.
so dont complain when that mocha mix isnt in your hand when you want it.
Great article for those who have few “news” sources that only pander to donors.
And how can we forget the thousands of unknown workers, scientists and engineers who have worked for NASA over the last decades? Do you know any of them besides the ones appearing in movies? Oh, and most of them were educated in public schools, not privileged institutions.
I absolutely agree that those working in government for the general good should be recognized for their honorable efforts. They are the reason losers like Steve Bannon hates government: Because he is fundamentally incompetent as a human being.
My dad and I worked in civil service jobs at various times. When the Progressive Republicans of the early 20th c. made most Civil Service positions non-political, they ended the worst of decades of massive corruption. They are the ones who keep going through the political changes and I think have done a lot to keep things on as even a keel as possible. They can be wily at slowing down or diverting some of the worst demands coming from the top. And yes, of course, they can also resist needed change at times. But overall it’s vastly better than the political hiring that preceded it.
I’ll put in a rare good word for workers at the US Postal Service, the FDA (Food and Drugs Administration, whatever its new name is now, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The counter staff at the two post offices I use have been unfailingly polite and efficient in handling all my needs– when things aren’t rushed, they can even be chatty and jocular. The men (almost always) who bring mail to our house have likewise been efficient and friendly. The organization itself may be sick as a dog, but if so, it hasn’t tainted the staff I meet. And the service they provide continues to be important.
As for the FDA, I have had many years of interaction with them in clinical research and drug development. I have found the staff to be professional, sticking to the facts, trying to do the right thing, by the book. They were not “stupid” or “lazy” or any other epithet the MAGAtes might use in attacks.Some were brilliant. In fact, I found the “D” part of the FDA staff to see as part of their role helping drug companies get good new drugs to the market while protecting the integrity and safety of the medicines we need.
Finally, pilots love to slander and cuss the FDA with the same kind of epithets used against the USPS, et al., but in my experience as a pilot who had long involvement with aeromedical certification issues, I found the medical staff to be serious-minded people who sometimes struggled with organizational issues such as described above. Pilots like to moan that the FDA is trying to keep people from flying, but what they are really trying to do is follow the laws enacted by Congress and regulations that implement those laws. As the saying goes, the FDA regulations are written in blood– meaning bad things happened that led to the regs. I found at the FAA serious people with good intentions trying to do a challenging job under tight conditions.
I say the above in full knowledge that there are inefficiencies and outright loony people and things about our federal bureaucracy (don’t get me started), but I am dismayed and discouraged that so many people in government who ought to know better paint all “gummint people” and programs so negatively. The damage being done to our fundamental federal structure may take decades to repair… if that’s even possible.