An unfortunate side-effect of Americans’ fascination with celebrity is their accompanying confusion of fame with competence. That inability to understand the difference–especially when it comes to political campaigns– is largely a result of widespread ignorance of the day-to-day grunt-work of governing.
John Sweezy, the long-ago (now deceased) Republican chairman of my county party used to say that every citizen should be required to serve two years in government, and prohibited from staying for more than four years. While I disagreed with his four-year edict, I completely understood the benefit of a two-year stint that would introduce citizens to the distinctly unglamorous realities involved.
I served as Corporation Counsel in Indianapolis for a bit over two years, many–many–years ago, and it was an education. I was disabused of the then-widespread notion that civil servants were largely folks who couldn’t find private sector jobs–my co-workers were some of the brightest and most hard-working people I’ve ever known. Most of all, I came to understand the realities of government service, along with the difficulties of weighing competing public interests.
In one of her recent Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson illuminated those lessons by recalling the efforts that averted a threatened Y2K calamity.
When programmers began their work with the first wave of commercial computers in the 1960s, computer memory was expensive, so they used a two-digit format for dates, using just the years in the century, rather than using the four digits that would be necessary otherwise—78, for example, rather than 1978. This worked fine until the century changed.
As the turn of the twenty-first century approached, computer engineers realized that computers might interpret 00 as 1900 rather than 2000 or fail to recognize it at all, causing programs that, by then, handled routine maintenance, safety checks, transportation, finance, and so on, to fail. According to scholar Olivia Bosch, governments recognized that government services, as well as security and the law, could be disrupted by the glitch. They knew that the public must have confidence that world systems would survive, and the United States and the United Kingdom, where at the time computers were more widespread than they were elsewhere, emphasized transparency about how governments, companies, and programmers were handling the problem. They backed the World Bank and the United Nations in their work to help developing countries fix their own Y2K issues.
Those of us who were adults in the run-up to the turn of the century still remember the dire warnings. Planes would fall out of the sky, computers would fail to work, the funds in your bank account would be inaccessible…on and on. Preachers of some religions predicted the end times.
None of that happened, not because the threat was unfounded, but because public servants worked for many months to correct the problem. As Richardson wrote,
In fact, the fix turned out to be simple—programmers developed updated systems that recognized a four-digit date—but implementing it meant that hardware and software had to be adjusted to become Y2K compliant, and they had to be ready by midnight on December 31, 1999. Technology teams worked for years, racing to meet the deadline at a cost that researchers estimate to have been $300–$600 billion. The head of the Federal Aviation Administration at the time, Jane Garvey, told NPR in 1998 that the air traffic control system had twenty-three million lines of code that had to be fixed.
Richardson followed her description of the problem and its solution with what I will label “the moral of the story.”
Crises get a lot of attention, but the quiet work of fixing them gets less. And if that work ends the crisis that got all the attention, the success itself makes people think there was never a crisis to begin with. In the aftermath of the Y2K problem, people began to treat it as a joke, but as technology forecaster Paul Saffo emphasized, “The Y2K crisis didn’t happen precisely because people started preparing for it over a decade in advance. And the general public who was busy stocking up on supplies and stuff just didn’t have a sense that the programmers were on the job.”
I don’t know how to make the majority of American voters understand that when they cast a ballot, they need to vote for someone with the skills or background to understand the job–someone who is competent to fix the sorts of problems governments encounter. When they vote for an entertainer, or culture warrior, or “outsider” who proudly claims to know nothing about politics or government, they get what they vote for–and governing suffers.
After all, most of us wouldn’t choose a doctor who’d never been to medical school…
I will back up the fundamental point that most people don’t understand the inner workings of these companies and institutions so they have no idea of the complexities involved. And I’ll back it up with a rant that has been a long time coming. 😛
For Y2K, every company that made software of virtually any sort had to produce patches for their products. I was involved in this directly, back in the day. I think the public generally determined, after the fact, that the issue had been overblown, because so few and minor were the effects seen. This always bugged me because I knew specifically how much work went into the solution.
Richardson does make one big error. She suggested the solution needed to be ready by December 31st, 1999. This is very wrong; depending on the type of software, solutions typically needed to be ready months in advance of that date. Companies and institutions have many procedures around installing, testing and rolling out software changes, even for relatively small patches. Mistakes can cost millions of dollars, loss of market share, and loss of consumer confidence. My own company had our solutions ready more than six months before the cutoff.
That feels better; this particular issue been sitting badly within me for a very long time. 🙂
Sheila; I began my work in Indianapolis’ Republican City Government in 1972 under Mayor Richard Lugar, racism, sexism, nepotism, political patronage was rampant. He became a better Senator than he was a Mayor. I began in the Traffic Division of Indianapolis Police Department and was soon aware of the level of total incompetence of most staff members. Example; middle age woman Thelma told Lt. Gailbreath she needed repair on her typewriter…it would only type in capital letters, he quickly repaired it for her. She wore a hearing aid and didn’t like the young woman at the desk behind me and would tell me to relay an ugly insult to her then turn off her hearing aid so she couldn’t hear the reply. The young girl and I just laughed. There was an older woman who wandered the building with her coffee cup to visit with other political patronage older women to gossip. She was allowed to paint the curb in front of her house yellow signifying No Parking; a new patrolman in the area ticketed her nephew for parking in that zone and she tried to get him fired, causing him a great deal of problems due to her support from the top level.
The private sector was not aware of the immediate, positive changes Mayor Bill Hudnut made inside the City-County Building; when Goldsmith came along to destroy all progress (as Trump has done and will complete) those who weren’t fired and escorted out of the building, myself included, had application out everywhere but the private sector was still hesitant to hire anyone from city government. We did our best to appear to go along to get along but continued performing our jobs as they should be done. It was very difficult to work in that atmosphere while fearing Security could appear suddenly for no reason to fire us and escort us out of the building. The health conditions of many were seriously affected, some permanently. My thoughts were with those in the White House who worked under those conditions and will be again with those from President Joe Biden’s administration; our loyalty to our city and/or our nation comes at a higher price than never before in our history.
“After all, most of us wouldn’t choose a doctor who’d never been to medical school…”
John H. Thank you for that information. Also, for making the point that it was not just civil servants who worked to avoid disaster, but also private companies. One may have been working to avoid financial loss and the other in service to the general welfare, but those motives were in accord.
Through the last 3 election cycles, Democratic candidates have been stressing the importance of cooperation while Republican candidates have been focused on demonizing Democrats and all liberalism in general.
Today’s post supports the argument that when we work together, Americans can accomplish anything, as President Biden continues to remind us.
Now we face a Presidential administration that seeks to divide and destroy us.
I just remembered an expensive bit of nepotism from Mayor Richard Lugar’s administration. How many here remember Market Square Arena and the steepness of the stairs up into the stands? That was due to the size of the property the Arena was built on which Lugar’s administration purchased from his mother. I don’t remember if she was widowed or divorced but she remarried and her name was Caldwell so the purchase slipped through like you-know-what through the Republican goose. Her stepson and Mayor Lugar’s stepbrother was local news anchor Howard Caldwell. I’m sure the private sector would have been well aware of that situation but not the public.
There is a thing called prospect theory in the books. It posits that homo sapien brains come wired a certain way when faced with risk, uncertainty, and probability.
Here are some key points of prospect theory:
1) Reference point
People compare potential gains and losses to a reference point, such as their current wealth or status quo.
2) Loss aversion
People are generally averse to loss and often avoid a loss rather than risk an equivalent gain.
3) Context-dependent
People’s decision-making is influenced by how choices are presented and can be manipulated.
4)Editing phase
People order outcomes according to a heuristic, such as deciding which outcomes are equivalent and considering lesser outcomes as losses and greater ones as gains.
For example, if you currently have $100 in your wallet and find $50 on the ground, you would experience this as a gain because you’ve increased your money relative to the $100.
Associating with a celebrity feels good. They come pre-packaged with talent. That must be true because why would they be a celebrity other than their obvious talent?
My granddaughter probably has invested a couple of thousand dollars over a few years attending Taylor Swift concerts. Why on earth? With so many fans like my grandaughter, she must be exceptional at writing, singing, playing the guitar, production, and presentation.
MTV (Musk, Trump, Vance} is hugely wealthy. The benefit of associating with so much wealth must mean they are smart, right?
What can possibly go wrong?
This is a good reminder that the Democratic Party used a lot of celebrities to link the party with race and sex – social issues the party relies on for votes. It’s worked for years, but not this year. The GOP has their famous supporters as well. I don’t consider God Elon a celebrity as his notoriety is mainly due to his “success” as a businessman. He’s an oligarch and god.
I have written anti-Elon responses to his posts for a long time on X but I have never got a single response. Not a single one. Why?
My belief is nearly all of his followers on X (tens of thousands) are bots. They are fake which is why nobody responds. I’ve tested my theory since he took over Twitter since I suspected then something was amiss. He’s an oligarch that has rigged the game in his favor. For those who haven’t read the back story to Trump’s Truth Social, you should carve out some time and do so. ProPublica has some great articles about all of the shenanigans that occurred at that company, and the protests against Devin Nunes as incompetent, even though his salary was $1.75 million annually when the company lost over $50 million in 2023. And the stock price is worth billions for a technically bankrupt company. Who’s laundering money to help out Donald?
And thanks, JoAnn for pointing out political patronage positions in our government. I see the same people churning in and out of government in our community all the time padding their retirement with years served. I’ve watched the union folks working on projects around town and it’s almost comical to see how it requires 5 people even though 2 are doing the work – maybe 1. LOL
For Sheila, you should check out the most recent Theodore Rokita lawsuit against HUD and USDA (I think). Indiana taxpayers are paying for a lawsuit to join 14 other states to sue the federal government for “energy efficiency regs” that are costing US homebuilders extra money. And yes, the state lobbying homebuilder groups in each state are also plaintiffs. How is it that one of the biggest lobbying groups in the state gets taxpayers to pay for their lawsuit against the federal government?
Now God Elon wants to take down Keir Starmer in London and replace Nigel Farrage. Let’s see what the UK government does to appease God Elon…
I agree that most of the people working in government at every level are bright, hardworking, and dedicated to public service. The relatively few who aren’t get the lion’s share of any notice.
I’m not including elected officials in the group, but I will say that even many of them come to government thinking they are more like Mr. Smith going to Washington, than Senator Paine. Sadly the transformation from Smith to Paine comes quickly.
I happened to work with some of the best scientists in the world. My experiences may be different from others in that way, but I spent several years working as a Patient Advocate. I knew most of the people at the Indy VA and I can think of about ten who shouldn’t have been there. They’d be perfect for the incoming administration!
Once again the failure of public education to not only teach critical thinking but also the mass of “literacies” needed to understand our world be a good citizen – visual literacy, data literacy, media literacy, etc. should include “government literacy” – beyond “civic education”. Want to teach kids about elections? Get them “into” it. A fascinating model program is here: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Elections/FrequentlyAskedQuestions/future-vote-faqs.html. No reason why a similar program couldn’t be designed for learning about governing and public servants.
Republican Sweezy shared his viewpoint with Democrat Mario Cuomo, New York’s governor when I covered the state legislature in Albany. Specifically, Cuomo argued that anyone who wrote about a government should have spent some time inside one. That experience, he said, would equip a reporter with a real sense of the importance of achievements and screw-ups.
JoAnn, I never knew that backstory about Market Square Arena! Thanks for sharing that. I DO remember not being able to go there again after attending a concert due to the steep steps. I had asthma, so climbing them felt like hiking in the Rockies and my lungs couldn’t take it.
And regarding “After all, most of us wouldn’t choose a doctor who’d never been to medical school…” Well…
My MTV- (thanks for that, Pete!) loving brother is a diabetic with multiple other health issues. After “losing all faith in doctors” during Covid, he decided to stop all his meds and going to his doctor. Now, he relies on “real doctors” who are on YouTube. A year ago, he fell and broke his foot and an X-ray showed multiple breaks. He was advised to see a foot surgeon immediately. No, he wasn’t going to do that. Instead, he turned to his TV doctors where he learned he could take care of it himself by ordering from Amazon the same foot cast he’d “be charged hundreds for” by a doctor. So that’s the route he went. Fast forward a year. He still can’t walk, has terrible sores on his legs from poor circulation and unchecked diabetes, and rants and raves over how much the wound clinic is charging to clean his wounds. So yes, it does indeed track that people would rather vote for dimwits, celebrities, and billionaires who know nothing about governing, and who don’t give two s*^%s about the lives of the people who vote for them. I mean, if they run for office, they MUST know what they are doing, right? And yes, those same voters would rather “be the boss of their own healthcare” and turn to quacks on YouTube. After all, some of them wear white medical coats, so they MUST be real, right?
RiverGirl, the story of your brother’s situation is a sad one, and, obviously, he is not the only one to go down that road, broken foot, or not.
That the GOP, from Rand Paul, named for idiot Ayn Rand, has been targeting the educational system in the U.S. shows how well they know that poorly educated people are, overall, at least, easier to manipulate than an educated public.
“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
–Voltaire
Mitch D. Ayn Rand was no idiot. She grew up under a brutal communist regime and her philosophy was a reflection of that. Would you call Aristotle an idiot because he got some things wrong? Are you an idiot or have you never made a mistake?
Ayn Rand had a monster resentment against the Bolsheviks who took away her daddy’s drug business. Her anti-communist rants were taken as gospel by the Libertarian crowd, who thought all communal efforts were a sign of weakness and a waste of time. Students of Rand will be running the government shortly, so brace yourselves.
I love RiverGirl’s anecdote about her brother. I know many MAGA cult members who have the same mindset, and I used to try to talk sense to them. Not anymore! My lesson was to stop playing god and follow “live and let live” principles. Who am I to alter the will of god to thin out the herd based on those whose instincts for survival were less than capable? 😉 It thins out the population and removes the less-than-stellar pool of genes.
RE: Y2K
The real gratitude is due to the person who recognized that there was going to be a problem in the future and alerted his associates. Maybe to the associates who were smart enough to take him seriously (and to the ladies, I am NOT assuming that it was a man who first recognized the problem. In the English grammar “him” in the context used is gender neutral.)
RE: Market Square
Never knew the backstory revealed here, but knew that I hated the seating and never went to a second event there. Same story at the Hoosier Dome. Went once, hated the seating and never went back. Circle Theater : Front row, second mezzanine; can stick my feet through the railing. Only reason I still go to the Symphony.
Yesterday’s certification of the presidential vote is a stark reminder of the vast difference between Magas authoritarian way and US constitution. Magas might is right and they’re the boss of everyone is also evident with SC striking down the Chevron deference clause. Facts and real progress aren’t in their playbook. Their governing style is to tear down and personally profit while crushing opposition.
Joann I think we did some time at the city county building together, I remember Thelma. I remember being told that I would lose my job if Republicans didn’t win, only time I ever voted Republican.
Goldsmith was the prosecutor at the time I think. There was quite a bit of shady stuff that went on back then and still does
A few yrs back a neighbor was complaining about us parking on our public street instead of our driveway. I pointed out the alley was riddled with huge pot holes that led to our driveway. Her husband being a city attorney under Ballard has that alley paved within a few weeks.
Speaking of yesterday….
Congress passed a law in March 2022 to require “an honorific plaque listing the names of all of the officers of the United States Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, and other Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and protective entities who responded to the violence that occurred at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”The Architect of the Capitol was ordered to obtain the plaque within a year and permanently place it on the Capitol’s western front, where the worst of the fighting took place. But almost three years later, there is no plaque. It’s unclear why or who is responsible for it. A spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol referred questions to the House Sergeant at Arms, who did not respond to requests for information. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York and then-Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky signed off on the plaque, according to a Senate leadership aide who was familiar with the process but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has also been supportive. A spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not respond to requests for comment. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who led the House Administration Committee when the law was enacted, wrote Johnson in May to ask why the plaque hadn’t been installed. “If there is a reason for the delay, I look forward to any information you can share to that end and what is being done to address it,” Lofgren said. She never heard back. “It’s not just the plaque, although it does mean something to the officers who were there, but the fact that no one cares about them enough to comply with the law and acknowledge the sacrifice that they made for us and for our country,” Lofgren said. “That service to their country, it’s been disrespected.” New York Rep. Joe Morelle, now the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said refusing to display the plaque is part of an effort to “deny Jan. 6 happened and the harm it caused to the U.S. Capitol Police force.”
Helen; do you remember having to take an oath to work for and support the Republican party, did you know that meant you would be told what time and where to go to work the Reelect Nixon campaign and standing in line to “donate” 2% of your paycheck to the Republican party by the end of every payday to keep your job? My mother worked for the state in the IRS Department in the 1960s and her 2% “donation” was deducted from her paycheck. My mother was a staunch Republican and was Vice Precinct Committeewoman in our neighborhood and was happy to comply.
We are heading into chaos and oblivion; and it isn’t as if we haven’t seen this particular candidate in action before, but he has gathered support and strengthened his hold on this government while we were trying to survive the Covid Pandemic rebuild our tattered government and pull together as a nation to regain the trust of allies globally.
So, what happens 8,075 years from now?
Oops . . . 7975 years from now?