NOVEMBER 17, 2019 – In college I had friends who took the foreign service entrance exam—a grueling three-hour written test about every conceivable subject, a personality profile, and an oral exam, not to mention physical and security clearances. I knew people who took both the LSAT and the foreign service exam and reported that the former was a piece of cake compared to the latter. I’d considered taking the foreign service exam until a guy whom I considered a genius and who’d sweated through the test told me bluntly not to bother.
I couldn’t help but recall that brush with humiliation when I heard Ambassador Yovanovitch testify Friday. As a career State Department official, she ‘d “passed the test.” Compare her to Sondland, who’d contributed a million bucks to Trump’s inauguration and is a rank amateur. (Just imagine the scene in that Kyiv restaurant, where Sondland took a call from Trump on a non-secure cellphone and pulled the phone away from his ear far enough for all in the vicinity to hear!)
I was heartened by the applause that Ambassador Yovanovitch received after her testimony. There was a quintessentially smart, educated, experienced, competent public servant; a veteran of dangerous postings and an appointee to a position for which she was one of the very best that could have chosen. Rarely does the public get to know these people who represent our national interests, day in, day out, for decades, through thick and thin, irrespective of which party is in power.
The ultimate irony of the circumstances is that the clownish, impeachable acts of the “acting” president revealed to the world a person of the quality of Ambassador Yovanovitch. As embarrassed and scandalized as decent Americans—right, left and center—should be by Trump, we should be proud and heartened by the likes of career officers Yovanovitch, William Taylor, and David Holmes, and many others in the State Department.
We live in an era of dangerous government-bashing. What was once a fringe element has gained significant traction in its frontal assault on all aspects of government, from politics to policy to the implementation and administration of laws. Government is viewed as a threat, a swamp, a burden, a hurdle, a faceless monolith of heartless, brainless rules and regulations and bureaucrats. As Reagan so famously put it, “Government isn’t the solution, government is the problem.” Just imagine what all that does to morale and recruitment.
Over the years, I myself have taken rides on the anti-government bandwagon but if government is not always the solution, it’s not always the problem. Further, I’ve had enough interaction with government agencies and personnel to know how dedicated, knowledgeable and helpful “bureaucrats” can be and in most cases, are. When I examine closely the shortfalls, I find they’re often the result of a lack of resources—not too much government.
Policy should always be up for debate and revision, but in many quarters, the quality and dedication of non-political public servants should be respected, not trashed.
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© 2019 Eric Nilsson
