Comments on: Ask Not What Government Can Do

By: lance

lance — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:30:04 +0000

I talked to the head of corp. ID for Canada a way back (he was a NSCAD grad) and said there’s 10,000 print vendors that the fed’s stuff gets output from, so it’s Baskerville and Akzidenz – k.i.s.s. Kinda nice we let in all those euros in the 60s to run things here. (Well, some of the bigger cities. That’d be 3 of them).

By: Ramelyn

Ramelyn — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:11:14 +0000

no, then gradually let some of the vcesiers back because special funding comes from some magic governement (state or federal). Do you realize how really user unfriendly public transportation in St. Louis is? Every aspect is bad. First we have busses that don’t announce stops unless a person requests. Next we have the limited fares (other cities, you can buy an all day any direction pass) that have to be stamped’ or a fine is assessed. (Duh if one is in possesion of a ticket, one has already paid the fair.) Then we have the issue of stolen state property really don’t know why everyone just rolls over on this! There are 2 stations on the campus of UMSL. Part of the original agreement was for students to get free access to bus/link service in exchange for the buses coming on and through campus as well as the link stops. Tax breaks are given, property is not maintained (heavy busses do cause road damage) by Metro/bistate or whatever ya’ll calling yourselves today, but rather they are maintained by the university , again at the taxpayer’s expense. We have long known Bi-State/Metrolink to be corrupt taking kickbacks n what not from lord knows where! (How much are you paying’ google to farm out the service????) Let’s think back to the 80s when so called top secret documents were destroyed office papers were picked up for destruction. While being loaded, an offical had to watch the truck/driver and then follow that truck back to the shredding site. That offical had to stay and watch while papers were shredded (we are talking giant industrial shredders, nothing that would fit in an office). Just what sort of documents would need to be shredded personnell records might make sense, but considering these so called proprietary documents were placed in special containers (giant blue trashcan like bins with no lid). There would also not be nearly 1 ton (literally) of papers every month (sometimes 2ce a month). Also doesn’t make sense, escpecially when considering other documents handled at the facility were from sensitive places such as the federal or local governments, local universities, and banks. (And yes some of those did have special handling requirements on how the documents were mill baled or shredded and how shredded materials could be recycled or to whom it could be reclcyled to. For example, federal governement documents could be mill baled but not mixed with any other industrial paperwork. (Mill baling is sorting paper by type and then sending the bales of paper to the appropriate mill facility to wash it down and make new paper products.) Once baled, it had to be stored in a double sealed truck trailer. There’s more to it, but I think you get the point why would Bi-state/Metro need such high security on thier shredded documents!?!? Seems like several years ago, there was some sort of scandal regarding the higher ups at this organization and how they were being personally funded I can’t remember all the details, so won’t get into that. I guess the point I want to make is where is the accountability to your employers both the user and the taxpayer? How do we justify farming out vcesiers to google who doesn’t contribute back to our community. The whole cycle of things users and taxpayers support the system. In turn, the system puts money into the community St. Louis metro area by employing people who also pay taxes. We need to get it right you should really hear what people say about our transportation they are laughing at us!! People from as close as Chicago or KC and as far as France.

By: Brett Ruiz

Brett Ruiz — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:33:15 +0000

It’s not the “size” of government that critics have an issue with, it’s reach. Government can be expected to grow at the rate comparable to the population, but our government not only “grows” but it balloons at a rate many multiples greater than the population.

It’s not a matter of “smart government” versus “large government.” It’s the nature of the state to expand its own power at the expense of defenseless citizens. The state, after all, is the primary source of income for people. We all want higher incomes so it is perfectly reasonable for the people within government to agitate for ever increasing funding, regardless of need or performance. Because citizens are rationally ignorant (to use Anthony Downs’ term) we have no way of investigating the many millions of tiny increases every year and government grows beyond our control.

It is not a branding issue, or even an organizational issue. If the state is to exist, it must be severely constrained, if reasonable constraints cannot be erected then the state shouldn’t be erected in the first place!

I’m an art director working in one of NYCs most successful ad agencies, so I wholeheartedly agree with your approach to communications and branding. The nature of commercial interaction is the voluntary exchange of goods and services that make both parties better off. However, because the nature of government is to tax you against your will I find it rather insulting for them to turn around “sell” you an image and communications platform. It’s like “hey, look at how great our new transit system branding is!” to which I might respond, “wow, that’s wonderful that you did that with my money but I had no choice in the matter and I don’t ride the buses.”

My position is really not as rough as it sounds at first. We’re all taught that our government is “us” and that it “helps” us. Once you realize that neither of those things are true, it really shifts your perspective.

I appreciate that someone is thinking about these things and writing strong, well reasoned articles on the subject of communications and government.

Cheers.