PUTNEY — We're here to do good work,” were the introductory words from incoming Agency of Human Services Secretary Doug Racine to the House Human Services Committee.
He went on to share his charge from Gov. Peter Shumlin: “Government's job is to do good work. Government is not the problem; government is part of the solution.”
With those words, he set the tone for working together to find the best solutions to the ongoing dilemma of providing services to our neighbors in need with the diminished resources of a budget in deficit.
I couldn't agree more. Whatever we do, we will do more and better with a sense that we're in this together.
No more “them versus us, takers versus givers, government is the problem” rhetoric.
It's just us, Vermonters, in this together. That's how I see government. Us. You, me, and our neighbors. A part-time, citizen legislature working with other Vermonters to help Vermonters.
Everyone who works in government is “us,” everyone who is served by government is “us,” and a government of the people, by the people, and for the people is just that - us.
And it is our duty to serve ourselves as best we can, not create targets for animosity with rhetoric that creates a false dichotomy of “us versus them.”
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We know the challenges ahead. We know, as Mario Cuomo once said, “We campaign with poetry, but must govern with prose.”
The realities are daunting. The economic landscape is littered with the remains of countless businesses and the people who populated those businesses.
Those casualties of the Great Recession know full well the challenge of digging out of this hole we're in.
Likewise in the state budget. There are few areas that have been spared. Still, there are Vermonters who are aged, disabled, or too young to take care of themselves whose very lives depend on us.
After Secretary Racine's visit to introduce himself to our committee, I was reminded of the story of the guy who fell into a deep hole from which he couldn't get out. Countless people walked by, ignoring his cries for help.
Finally, a friend walked by, saw him and jumped down into the hole with him.
The first guy said, “What'd you do that for? Now we're both stuck down here.”
His friend replied, ”Well, I didn't want you to be alone. Anyway, I've been here before, and I know the way out. The key is doing it together.”
That's how government at its best works. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
I look forward to the culture of “us,” and supporting those trying to help by serving our fellow Vermonters and doing good work.
Us, working together.