Public Health Intersection

In the introduction to my blog I reference taking, “The Big Step Back”, which, while it means something to me, may leave you in the dark.

One of my favorite areas of study in college was anthropology, particularly the concept of the participant observer.

Which to me meant letting people know you were there watching and taking part but not necessarily becoming a lifetime member of the tribe.

This approach has served me well during my career of working with government but never in it.

Speaking of government, when are our legislators, governors, congress people and presidents going to figure out they need to take, “The Big Step Back”?

My favorite example is the government budget process which no matter what is going on around them legislators always base next year’s budget on last year’s budget.

Why do we continue to take one horribly imbalanced budget and, after barely surviving it, build the next year’s budget on the very same framework?

Didn’t Einstein have an observation about that type of behavior?

While there has apparently been much thought about how we might break this vicious cycle, (the 2004 book, “The Price of Government” is one my favorites and my copy is even signed by Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm), there hasn’t been much action.

It’s easy and often accurate to point at term limited legislatures, well funded special interests and the like to explain why change doesn’t, and isn’t likely to, happen.

Here in California, as is the case in many other states, we have the ability to initiate change from the ballot box, but isn’t that just giving up on the legislative process and letting our elected officials off the hook when it comes to making tough decisions?

Why bother sending them in the first place?

In addition, we sometimes elect populist leaders and send them into dysfunctional governing structures and whine when their promised change doesn’t happen immediately.

When I worked with troubled kids and families in the 1960’s we figured out that you couldn’t just “fix” the kid, put them back in a dysfunctional family, and expect things to get better.

Let’s face it maybe we’re just too comfortable with the predictability of way things work today and have worked in the past.

I’ll keep looking for those leaders who show signs of being willing to take, “The Big Step Back” and I’ll also remember that from time to time I need to do the same thing.

Hopefully, you will too.