If the country was run like a charity where would the oversight be?
By spalladino
@spalladino (17891)
United States
May 15, 2008 9:35am CST
Oversight is something you don't often think about but the recent discussion on taxation got me thinking about it. The government plays many roles and one of the most important ones is overseeing quality control. Without those agencies who would ensure that our food was safe to eat, that medication was safe to take? Who would make sure that the trucks and cars on the highways met safety standards? That the airlines regularly maintained their planes? That railroad tracks were in good shape so that trains didn't derail? That our water was safe to drink? That we had police and firefighters on duty and that they did their jobs? That our doctors, medical technicians and pharmacists were well trained and did their jobs correctly? Who would make sure that the nuclear power plants were safe or that buildings were being built to standards that would keep them from falling on people? Something to think about.
1 response
@kingcrapper (1536)
• United States
15 May 08
The problem comes when the system costs more to run itself then it does to achieve the mission set for itself. Can you imagine a government agency trying to do the same job as a small company? With the former: committees discussing what the plan should be. The latter: finding a way to do and getting there. The former: forming sub commitees to crete another committee in charge of progress oversite. The latter: finding what did and didn't work and moving on.
This is one of the reasons I don't mind the role of government in what government should do (defence and safety) but leave the rest to business people and regual joes like us...we can do it better. Leave health care to people who know about health care!