Saturday, September 13, 2008

My first post: Why this blog?

[Even though I've been online for 20 years, this is my first blog. Any suggestions for tweaking the site are very welcome.]

As I write this, there are only about 7 weeks left in the U.S. presidential campaign, and it appears that both McCain and Obama are going to be falling all over themselves trying to convince voters that they are the better candidate for "change" and "reform".

As a former federal employee, I was heavily involved in the 1990's in making the U.S. government "work better and cost less" under Vice-President Al Gore's National Performance (a.k.a. "reinventing government"), so this current opportunity to get the future President (whoever that may be) to talk, in more detail, about how he plans to change the "culture of Washington" is, for people like me, a very exciting time.

And, if YOU feel the same way, then you probably have noticed the increase in "good government" buzzwords coming out of recent speeches from the candidates. Buzzwords like these:

"transparency" -- "accountability" -- "reform" -- "culture change" -- and even "whistleblower" (to describe Palin)

By creating this blog, I hope we can all share any relevant news or information that may provide some insight to what these "changers" and "mavericks" have in mind.

And, because I have personal experience as a former federal auditor about "blowing the whistle" on government waste, I am especially interested in how they plan to make it safe for government workers to point out government waste without fearing for their jobs.

So here it is, the simple question that the "candidates-for-change" need to answer (and that I hope this blog will prompt):
"Will you make it safe for government workers to point out waste, fraud or abuse, without the fear of losing their jobs?"

That is the fundamental question. Any candidate that can answer that question is one that also knows how to create "transparency and accountability".
Let's all find out (before the election).

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