Michael Lewis' latest book is a tribute to some outstanding civil servants at a time when they are underappreciated and under attack. He praises a coal mine safety expert in the Department of Labor, the man in charge of the national cemeteries, the group at JPL, the group in charge with calculating the CPI in the DOL, a cyber sleuth in the IRS, the woman in charge accessibility of the National Archives, his young goddaughter in the anti-trust department, and the woman in charge of gathering data on rare deadly diseases. Each the individuals and groups are apolitical and dedicated to noble, worthwhile causes that should be honored and not scorned.
Some of my take-aways..."The United States is an Enlightenment project based on supremacy of reason; on the idea that things can be empirically tested; that there are self-evident truths; that liberty, progress, and constitutional government walk arm in arm and together form the recipe for the ideal state. Statistics-numbers created by the state to help understand itself and ultimately to govern itself-are not some side effects of that project but a central part of what government is and does." Biden is a rare case where a sitting President lost an election with a "misery index" (inflation plus unemployment rate) below 10 (7.2). Somehow the good news and reason did not translate. Interestingly, only7 percent of the current federal workforce under the age of 30.
There is no epilogue in the book, and you are left wondering what will become of each of them and their departments under the current administration. For that matter, what will become of our current social order and the vast number of essential governmental services? Lewis does wander off a bit into sports, detailed minutia, and his goddaughter. Nonetheless, he does effectively honor several important and unsung civil servants.
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