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Showing posts from August, 2024

Bureaucrats

  I am one of those nameless, faceless bureaucrats. Yes, that is my job. Though I actually have a name; I even am rumored to have a face. Bureau is the French word for desk, so you could say bureaucrats are “desk people.” In short, I work for the government. I sometimes have to deliver unpleasant news to a taxpayer. I sometimes have to tell them that the deed they recorded won’t work and they will have to record another one with corrections. Or we can’t process their deed until they pay their taxes. I can understand why some of these things upset people. The thing is, we don’t decide these things. It is not the bureaucrats that make the laws. The legislature writes the laws. We are required to follow the law.   If you are going to get mad at someone, get mad at the legislature. Or maybe get mad at the voters who voted the legislature in (That’s you, by the way). The same thing happens when the voters vote in a new district, or vote for a bond, or a new operating levy for an ...

E Pluribus Unum

  E pluribus unum was the unofficial motto of the United States of America since its founding, and even before its founding. It was approved to be included on the Great Seal of the United States by Congress in 1782. Ever since it has appeared on many US coins. The Latin phrase e pluribus unum translates to: “out of many, one.” It is intended to put forth the ideal that even though we are many different kinds of people, we are one people. We are Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and independents, but we are one people: e pluribus unum. We are White, Black, Native American, Asian, Hispanic, and many more, but we are one: e pluribus unum. We are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, and all the rest. But we are one: e pluribus unum. This is of course the ideal. In the modern world we are factioned and fractured. Sometimes it is hard to imagine that we could ever come together and agree on anything. Sadly, my country is not alone in this. Many countri...