Eye Recommend --- The Secret Service and the Political Class

THE SECRET SERVICE AND THE POLITICAL CLASS, by Thomas Friedman --http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/opinion/thomas-friedman-the-secret-service-and-the-political-class.html

I have been trying to write a post about the trickle-down effect of congressional dysfunction for a few weeks now.  Mr. Friedman has done my work for me.

"I'm sure there are many technical explanations for the recent breakdowns in Secret Service protection that allowed an armed intruder to run right through the front door of the White House and an armed felon to ride on an elevator with President Obama.  But I'd also put some blame on the nation's political class.

Just look at Washington these days and listen to what politicians are saying and watch how they spend their time.  You can't help but ask:  Do these people care a whit about the country anymore?  Is there anybody here on a quest for excellence, for making America great?

Yes, yes, I know.  They're all here to do 'public service.'  But that is not what it looks like.  It actually looks as if they came to Washington to get elected so they could raise more money to get re-elected.  That is, until they don't get re-elected.  Then, like the former House Majority leader, Eric Cantor, they can raise even more money by cashing in their time on Capitol Hill for a job and a multimillion-dollar payday from a Wall Street investment bank they used to regulate. 

We're at war in the Middle East, with American military lives on the line, but Congress could not stir itself to return from a pre-election recess to either debate the wisdom of this war or give the president proper legal authorization, let alone take some responsibility.  When everyone is so busy running, is it any surprise that no one is running the federal government?...

...What does this have to do with the Secret Service lapses?  It certainly doesn't excuse them, but if you're a federal worker today and you look up at the 'adults' who are supposed to be supervising you, what do you see?  You see too many self-interested, self-indulgent politicians who are only there to grandstand, spend most of their time raising money to win elections and then, when you, as a federal worker, make a mistake, be the first to rush to the microphones with feigned concern to investigate your competence--as long as the cameras are running.

Tell me that doesn't filter down to every department, including the Secret Service.  When so many above you are just cynically out for themselves, it saps morale, focus and discipline...

...I can't put my finger on it exactly, but you feel today in Washington a certain laxness, that anything goes and that too few people working for the federal government take pride in their work because everything is just cobbled together by Congress and the White House at the 11th hour anyway.  It's been years since anyone summoned us for a moonshot, for something great.  So just show up and punch the clock...

...Again, I'm not excusing the Secret Sevice, but the recent breakdowns don't surprise me when so much of the political class that oversees the service is so self-absorbed, risk-averse and shortsighted.  When the people governing us become this cynical, polarized and dysfunctional, it surely seeps down into the bureaucracy.  As above, so below.

Governing is hard work; and obstructionism should not be mistaken for governing. Neither should sitting passively by and being satisfied to watch dust accumulate on America's greatness.