Posted on 09/06/2002 9:44:21 AM PDT by gubamyster
Posted: September 6, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
The politically naive among us may wonder why, despite their enthusiasm and zeal to "change things," nothing much ever really does change in Washington. It's because government bureaucrats never die, they just change jobs.
Take Asa Hutchinson. Remember him? He used to be a Republican congressman from Arkansas until last year, when he resigned his post after President Bush asked him to head up the Drug Enforcement Administration.
And what about the rest of Bush's Cabinet? Men like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have been inside the federal government for decades.
Ann Veneman, Department of Agriculture secretary, has been around that agency since the early 1980s. Spencer Abraham, Department of Energy secretary, has been involved with Republicans and GOP party politics, as well as a member of the U.S. Senate, since the early 1990s. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson was governor of Wisconsin from 1987 until last year when he was tapped by Bush to become his agency's 19th secretary. Before his record-setting 14-year stint as governor, he was a state lawmaker – a career that began in 1966.
The list goes on, but you get the drift.
By no means, however, are Republicans the only ones responsible for creating the incestuous climate of governance in Washington, D.C. Democrats are equally guilty.
Clinton Education Secretary Richard Riley began his public service career as a special assistant to a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in 1960. From there he went into state politics in South Carolina, eventually rising to the governorship. He spent some time in private law practice then came back into government in 1992. He succeeded Lamar Alexander, of the first Bush administration, who went on to become a U.S. representative.
Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright served Sen. Edward Muskie in the 1970s before becoming a staff member on the National Security Council and at the White House during the Carter years. She served in non-profit "think tanks" before becoming U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1993, before moving to the State Department in 1996.
Janet Reno was involved in Florida state politics and judicial activities before taking over Clinton's Justice Department in 1993. Clinton's Agriculture secretary, Dan Glickman, represented Kansas in the U.S. House from 1976 to 1995 – before then he was a trial lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Again, you get the drift. And these are just a few of the Cabinet members in just a few of the most recent administrations. This doesn't count the various deputy directors, undersecretaries and assistant department heads who will probably lead these agencies some day. And it doesn't include the scores of aides, advisers and subordinates who float in and out of GOP and Democratic administrations like ghosts.
What about Cabinet members who used to be state lawmakers and governors? Don't they traditionally shun the federal government as the guarantor of all state and local solutions? Yes – until, that is, they are part of the federal equation.
Many of Bush's Cabinet members, for example, used to criticize the size and scope of Washington's power. But now they preside over many of those same agencies. And now, each of those agencies have grown larger and more powerful in the few years these careerists have been back in town.
Now do you know why, despite our system of "checks and balances," few in positions of power are ever held accountable for misbehavior, misdeeds, high crimes and misdemeanors?
Perhaps now GOP conservatives understand why they are increasingly frustrated, disappointed and disenfranchised with the "Grand Ol' Party?" In reality, there isn't much difference between them and liberal Democrats – each spend freely, limit personal freedom and derail liberty.
Is it any wonder why lawmakers refuse to hold agency heads responsible for their failures – even failures as deadly and serious as Waco, Oklahoma City and 9-11? Who can prosecute a member of "the club?"
The fact is, regardless of the stated "political philosophy" of any given administration, nothing really ever changes in Washington, D.C. And it's because many of the most powerful people in our government are nothing more than recycled public servants.
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