On this day many are recollecting where they were when President Kennedy was shot. I was still several months from being born, but while the world was changing, it had profound effects on my thinking. With one grandparent having been a career Army officer and the other serving in the FBI after a stint as an Army Air Corps MP, I always had a belief in the importance of public service. My Mother began a 38 year government career as secretary and my father started out for 24 years as a juvenile probation officer. My motivations to be involved in government service and support those who do are founded in the words and deeds of President Roosevelt and President Kennedy but also by the proud public service of my own family . As an Irish Catholic, I am particularly proud of the doors opened by President Kennedy and the new doors opened now for others by President Obama. I spent 10 years working as a Baltimore Prosecutor and the last 13 years representing teachers and then the wide variety of federal employees. Apparently this is a very old fashioned view that perhaps now is coming back into favor, but it is not always a popular view. I leave it to you to decide for yourself, but I place below what I view as two decidedly different views. For me, I am proud to follow in the path begun by those such as FDR and JFK. Government service must be attractive enough to lure our most talented people. It must be challenging enough to call forth our greatest efforts. It must be interesting enough to retain their services. It must be satisfying enough to inspire single-minded loyalty and dedication. It must be important enough to each individual to call forth reserves of energy and enthusiasm. - President Kennedys Message to the Federal Service published in the Civil Service Journal, January-March 1961 Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country. Franklin D. Roosevelt Reagan’s First Inaugural: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” January 20, 1981
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 00:44:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015