Go and Reinvent the Government!

(my reaction paper for POLSC 150 class )

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Osborne and Gaebler’s Reinventing Government is one of the works in Political Science I find very useful especially in modern societies. It has been even more interesting to study with the introduction of the ten principles of reinvention which provide, for me, a very democratic and practical style of governing.

I always believe that government exists simply “to govern” and governing is far different from puppeteering. Many political systems, classical or modern, seem to be puppeteers of their society whether it is directly or indirectly done. Everything is mandated and manipulated by the government. What seems to be wrong is put right in the name of the government.

This problem is clearly answered by Reinventing Government. I like the way its principles go. I do agree that the government must steer rather than row. They are there to facilitate and like what a teacher does, teach and then later on allow students, the people, to strive for their own achievements. Government must learn to be a catalytic one.

To treat people as puppets can also be demonstrated by how “nanny” governments serve their people. Some democratic states “love” to provide everything to the people especially when they mourn. This is not wrong; in fact it is good that the government is responsive to the needs of the citizens. However, when situation goes like people are being fed by the government already, the government teaches its people to be indolent and irresponsible. Not every mourn is valid. People should strive for their own survival and parents should feed their own young. Government should just empower them (as a community-owned government), teach them to be self-reliant, lend them the goals of the state (be mission-driven) and provide rules as details to achieve these.  People are not puppets who have no bones to move their own body and who are meant to be lazy all through-out their lives.

Another way of reinvention that struck me was the “results-oriented government”. Sometimes, government lacks planning. They provide too many inputs while underestimating what these can do. For instance, government funds a mining project in a biodiversity-rich area. This could result to environmental problems like pollution and landslides. The government would then fund programs to respond to these. What could this cause the state as a whole? For me, it would just waste the capacity of the natural resources to do more than mining can. The thinking, therefore, must be “To what extent can this project render more success compared to the other?”

 Furthermore, when government wrongly thinks of a solution to the problem of the state, spending would just be equal to spending and spending more. People would then feel like their taxes go to nothing and protest afterwards. What is the solution of the Reinvention? Be an enterprising government. Plan carefully to earn more and spend less. Invest on what can be beneficial to everyone in a long term.

Additionally, being an “anticipatory government” is also a wise step to take especially for us, in the Philippines, where calamities always occur. Before Ondoy struck our country, our government used to respond to typhoons by providing rubber boats, distributing relief goods and teaching people how to prepare their emergency kits every now and then. It was always the routine whenever calamity aroused and as a result, government fell short of budget and failed to react to the demands of many people suffering. What did the government miss here? It was to fix the main root of the problem. Government should work on the drainage system, fix what causes flood. Even though typhoon is not there yet, at least, whenever it comes, we feel secured. It should not be solving when we are already at its midst.

There are lots more to say about Reinventing Government but it would indeed entail a whole book to express its usefulness.  For me, all the ten principles of reinvention point to one thing, “to delight the people”.  To provide good quality of services for the people in many ways, like those mentioned above, means that the government treats the public as customers. It is being a customer driven government that I think all governments must be. A good government provides what is good for its people.

I hope that our government would continue to reinvent its system. We are in the modern era; traditions that do not help us anymore must be changed. As this happens, we should change ourselves too. Reinvention must start in us and in our homes. Government needs its people to cooperate in its desire to reinvent itself.