Nostalgia - 40 years ago

Trapped in yesterdays  ?  No ! Just treasuring the  beautiful memories . And thinking if  " simple " is the new " complex "

Surprise

Jeyaraj

Ee Sheau Boon

A meeting by chance at a local eatery this afternnon. I was happy to meet up with 2 past students .

The Seventh Estate -The Bureaucracy that executes the details of Laws & Policy

The Seventh Estate is designed to protect us. They are the anonymous, non-political, non-appointed government employees who:

• Keep us safe, both domestically and in the world. Think, warts and all, the NSA, CIA, FBI TSA, Armed Forces, National Guard, Police;

• The agencies who build, maintain, and foster development of infrastructure necessary for commerce and prosperity. Think Highways, bridges, tunnels, ports, mass transit projects;

• The agencies and departments who keep our food, drugs, water and air clean.

• Those who research and explore in health, geology, space, history, culture that have no direct bottom-line but can add billions or trillions to the economy through information and innovation or invaluable knowledge or preservation of culture that define who we are as a common people.
  
  There may be a lot of limited thinking, waste, and ineptitude in government agencies, but if one has  to deal with private bureaucracies inside cable television providers, banks, telephone companies, utility companies, etc. then you know that  in any large institution, private or public, is subject to the same frustrations.
  
  
  The common good, or the “greater good” is why regulation exists, and bureaucrats are actually national  heroes, no different than our soldiers, who commit their lives to the service of protecting and defending us.
  
  The Parliament may make laws, and the Head Of State  issues executive orders, but those are just broad stroke outlines. The  details are executed by the Seventh Estate. 
  
  Bureaucrats execute and administer public policy. They are hired for specific knowledge, and expertise. They work, day-in, day-out, with the businesses and people in specific, focused areas where things need to get done.
  
  Bureaucracy is porous: Information leaks out of it all of the time. It’s been a normal function of our working democracy as long as there has been a government. It is a stabilizing factor.
  
  The Seventh Estate, leaking to the media, expose waste, corruption, and abuse of power are a part of the safety valves that keep all governments on track.
   
  Adapted from Huffington Post US