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Government is Different, Paul Appleby

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Government is Different, Paul Appleby
Government is Different
Paul Appleby

• A good lawyer doesn’t mean that he will make a good judge
• The more a person has succeeded in nongovernmental fields, the more they have developed interests and habits of thought that will unfit them for governmental roles
• Government is a system, the system can’t be understood except in terms of the public employees themselves, their conceptions of their positions, and the attitudes of the public about what is required in and from our civil serveants.
• “governmental attitude”

Significance of attitude: o No one can serve the public as it should be served by a government official unless he has a public-interest attitude with certain special characteristics o Government is organized action o Those that are in government must be able to organize resources; personnel, material or information o Many self-made businessmen have the disadvantage for government service of being a prima donnas, with strong personalities too little adjustable to situations other than the ones they have come to dominate.

How business looks at government:
• Government exists precisely for the reason that there is a need to have special persons in society charged with the function of promoting and protecting public interest
• Business concern expects government to be guided by a public-interest point of view
• One comes to realize that he must try to operate in a governmental way; that is, through action which is as fair as possible, and as uniform as possible, and which can be taken publicly and publicly explained.

Essential character of government:
• Government function and attitude have at least 3 complementary aspects that differentiate government from others: o Breadth of scope, impact and consideration o Public accountability o Political character
• No non-governmental institution has the breadth of government
• Other institutions are not free from politics; but government is politics
• Government is different because it must take account of all the desires, needs, actions, thoughts and sentiments of the people.
• Government is different because government is politics.

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