A Panegyric On Public Service

picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. And in this period of mourning and remembrance a year after the tragedy of Sept. 11, we are inundated with images of that terrible day and its aftermath-on television and in our magazines and newspapers.

Photographs of the World Trade Center towers, of the heroic rescuers in Manhattan and at the Pentagon, of the destruction and rebuilding-these have come to symbolize an event that is certainly the most consequential of the new century. Somehow these images appeal to our 21st century need to have modern technology-video and audio-mark an important turning point in our national life. They are everywhere, but in my estimation they cannot and should not serve as substitutes for the written and spoken word. Generations of American leaders have risen to countless occasions with oratory appropriate to the moment, and we should expect no less now.

Tomorrow, at Ground Zero, leaders of the nation and of New York will gather to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. They will read from the Gettysburg Address and Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech, but they are not expected to deliver their own thoughts on the meaning of 9/11 and its portent for the future. This dim day in the history of American oratory seems destined to reflect poorly on the quality of our political leaders. How can they not summon the fortitude to say a few words appropriate to the moment, in the interests of celebrating the lives of those innocents lost in the terrorist attacks and the heroism of those dealing with the aftermath?

The job does not seem so hard. They could begin by recognizing, and even celebrating, the return to prominence in our national life of people like those here in this room today. For it is to the public sector, not the private sector so gloried during the past generation, that our nation has turned in its moment of crisis.

It is no secret to anyone in this room that the federal government has been suffering for many years. In these worst of times, government has become a place of last resort for bright young people planning their careers. They see jobs encrusted in rulebooks of regulations, layers of hierarchy and group-grope decision-making with little accountability. They see an ancient ship of state so laden with barnacles as to be nigh on to foundering.

I think you have to be below decks, where the rowing is done, to fully appreciate these demoralizing aspects of bureaucracy. But viewed from the outside by a sympathetic observer, the troubles are not mainly attributable to the failings of bureaucracy itself. They are a consequence of our politics and the nature of leadership we have chosen in the White House, in Congress and even in our state and local agencies. If, as one can readily argue, our leadership does not value much of the work now done by the executive branch of the federal government, that should come as small surprise. After all, we trace our heritage to people who were determined, more than two centuries ago, to throw off the yoke of central government.

But let us look for a moment at the brighter side of things. From the tragedy of 9/11 has come a renewed appreciation for the essential work of the public sector. Wall Street is not nirvana. Greed is no longer good. Firemen, not money men, are cast in heroes' roles. People now realize that our country needs the diplomats, the spooks and the soldiers who are carrying our flag in Afghanistan and other trouble spots around the world. They may not realize that tens and tens of thousands of other people in the federal government are doing work that is essential to our economy, our society and our democracy. They:

• Set and enforce the rules governing our economic affairs.
• Grant patents that define innovation in our economy.
• Regulate the most advanced communications industry in the world.
• Manage the vast expanses of land that belong to the public.
• Explore space and promote research to deepen scientific knowledge.
• Discover new treatments for disease and promote the public health.
• Maintain diplomatic and trade relations with dozens of countries and conduct foreign intelligence in the interest of national security.
• Work to enhance environmental quality for all of us today, and for future generations.