But it if you read it carefully, you'll find little about competence or corruption. Instead, you'll find at least four new government programs, including a service academy to produce bureaucrats (is there a shortage of bureaucrats? -- Oh! just well trained ones, I see!)and a propaganda agency to tell "us what to believe". In addition we will eliminate government contracting disapproved of by Senator Clinton, and open contracts for infotech experts to revolutionize government by creating government information systems (any takers that the first grads of Clinton Public Service Academy will be GIS majors? 50$ ?). Does this imply that all of those liberal northeastern universities (like Yale and Wellesley?) are not producing qualified candidates for careers in public service?
This isn't about better government, it is about more government. Senator Clinton's idea is that if we only watch government (esp. through whistleblowers) and big corporations (through a government agency to track tax subsidies granted by congress!) more closely everything will be better. New York's Junior Senator suggests the way to do this is by creating more government and staffing them (and her cabinet) with the finest graduates the Clinton Public Service Academy has to offer.
The implied principle is: Better Government = MORE Government.
I smell a campaign (oops, exploratory committee} in free fall.
EXCERPT:
"We can re-establish the competence of government, the confidence of citizens in government, and the capacity of our government to set goals and achieve them. Today I want lay out a ten point agenda to do just that – an agenda for government reform. .....
First, we need to close the revolving door between government and lobbyists. ...and I'll start by permanently banning any of my cabinet officials from lobbying my Administration once they've left office....
Second, we're going to strengthen whistleblower protections so we can root out corruption and cronyism, wherever it may lie. ...
Third, when I'm President, I will once again appoint the most qualified, dedicated, public-minded people to serve in government. ...
And in order to attract the best people to government, I have joined on a bi-partisan basis with some of my colleagues in both the Senate and the House to propose a U.S. Public Service Academy – an undergraduate school modeled after our military service academies that will cultivate a new generation of leaders dedicated to public service. The Academy would provide a four-year, subsidized college education in exchange for a five-year commitment to public service after graduation. ...
Fourth, we're going to stop outsourcing our government and put an end to the abuse of no-bid contracts. ...I propose that we eliminate 500,000 government contracting positions, saving our government between $10 and $18 billion a year. And that we insist on competitive bidding for the remaining contracts, so we get the most value for every taxpayer dollar. ...
Fifth, we're going to stop substituting ideology for science and evidence, and we're going to start giving the American people again the facts on the issues that matter to them and their families. Way back in the 1990s, the White House had an Office of Technology Assessment that was charged with just one task: telling us the truth about science. Sorting out the competing claims and to the best of the scientists' abilities, telling us what to believe. For decades, they cut through the myths and the spin on everything from Star Wars to AIDS prevention to solar technology. It's time we put this office back in business, because our citizens should have the information they need about the issues that affect them. {emphasis added}
Sixth, we're going to open up our government's balance sheets so you can see exactly where your tax dollars are going – and the results they're getting. As tax day approaches, you probably find yourself wondering just where all your hard-earned money is going. Well, I propose that we require government agencies to publish their budgets and their government contracts online for all to see. ...We also need to go back to doing what was done during the Clinton Administration with the Reinventing Government initiative, known as REGO, which Bill started and asked Vice President Gore to head-up. ...And so, why don't we get back to doing that again if we're serious about having a government that works, we should be constantly asking ourselves the hard questions about why we're paying for something, and whether we should continue to do so. I also want to establish a new Corporate Subsidy Information Service. This watchdog agency will track every tax subsidy that Congress gives to big corporations. ...
Seventh, we're going to make sure our government pays its bills and lives within its means again – just like our families. That's what we did during my husband's Administration, when we balanced the budget and turned record deficits into surpluses. It took discipline and determination, a lot of hard work, but again, the results speak for themselves. Twenty-two million new jobs. The longest peacetime economic expansion in history. And the savings rate was reflected in our attaining leverage once again in the world. We've moved from the largest debtor nation to a creditor nation. Well, we're back in to the larger debtor nation again. That undermines our capacity to exercise leadership on important issues like trade and other strategic concerns. So, we need to return to the fundamental principle of pay-as-you-go.
Eighth, I want to make government more user friendly across the board – and that starts with bringing more government services online. ...it's time that our government went fully online as well. ...
In order to do that, however, we're going to have to move to the ninth point of my reform agenda. We have to have government take the lead in modernizing its record keeping systems and take the lead in areas that really can change the market and behaviors to the benefit of us all.
... We need to bring in private sector partners. We need to cut through red tape, and we need to begin to do what it takes to get our government to have information as readily available as we have in the rest of our lives. ...
Tenth and finally, we have to reform our election system. ... I've introduced legislation called the Count Every Vote Act, which is a comprehensive voting reform bill. It will make our voting systems more accountable and accessible. It will expand the right to vote of most of our citizens. It will create more opportunities for people to register to vote, and it will give greater assurances through paper-verified ballots that those votes will be counted. We need more oversight in our electoral system to discourage manipulation and deception. ..."
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