Power and responsibility Birthe Ronn Hornbech wrote 10th November 2010 "The Minister has full responsibility,"

followed by "It's miserable and dangerous for democracy that the opposition now throws himself over the permanent secretaries." Per Stig Moeller wrote 17th November 2010 "The press is terrible." I wonder what makes these highly talented people to the kind of outcome? I was at first superficial reading totally agree, but then grate it, something is wrong. The people must have "bread and circuses" as they said in the ancient Rome. Politicians compete with the "castle1" on the attention of the people. BRH is a lawyer and knows the witness oath in court: "truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth." In politics, this is rarely observed. Most are a little frugal - almost greasy with the truth. Truth has become a matter of narrow majority. Good that someone takes responsibility, but why full responsibility? The Minister has the overall responsibility and the political. The civil service are not free of responsibility, they are responsible that politicians are warned if, for example. international conventions on human rights are "bend" or violated. This is probably the case with the current tightening opposite not etnic danes. Of course the civil service shall be loyal, but loyalty only applies to government and ministers, or does it apply the parliament and democracy? It's the people who pay the salary. At the latest budget negotiations the Danish People's Party again got a major influence - by pure extortion - because the Conservative leader had put herself in an impossible and weakened position - it was question on nose size or leaving the office.

I saw the article with the careers of permanent secrataries which BRH criticize. It was pure information to the people with Kraks blue book as a neutral source. I noticed a common feature for all 19 permanent secrataries, they were all grown in a pure office environment, where you learn to avoid responsibility. It ran from school to the high position. Nobody had practical experience from the world which they write laws and regulations to - no one had been employed in firms where accountability, adaptability and competitiveness are survival conditions. Any knowledge about competition is theoretical from textbooks - and it was in my eyes a scary discovery. The reality was worse than my expectation.
1 Danish TV series on politicians and spindoctors. The absence of the civil servants is strange, so it does not reflect real life. You get entertained but you do not get any wiser.

I agree 100% with BRH to deputy ministers are a bad idea - completely in line with that spindoctors is a bad idea - as soon as possible to be phased out. But when it comes to what threatens democracy, I think that: a) 10 years with narrow block policy, b) BRH's liberal parti's attack on the Auditor General and c) Act on limiting public access to decision making are far greater threats to the democracy. There is currently thoughts on several commissions and studies. I think the idea of a significant minority to require a case illustrated is an extremely sensible democratic measure which can limit power perfect politicians' desire to focus on short-term narrow majority instead of using a little more time to create lasting solutions across the middle. But deciding Commissions are not enough. Developing mission and manning are essential for a useful result. The "Nrrebro case" required, as we all know three commissions before a fair share of truth was found. The Power Study is another example of how it shall not be done, when the resources and money shall be used effectively. All Danish political parties have been studying the U.S. election. Liberal political spokesman and the minister for finance has apparently just discovered Karl Rove and his nasty ways. That kind of bad behavior there is no need to import, it creates political disgust, where there is a need for trust and respect for the important work. The Danish electoral system is in a democratic respect far ahead of the american - providing capital interests too much influence. Obama's campaign financing by electronic collection is rather an exciting new development. Washington Post website contains an absolutely harrowing examination of the corrupt regime that Dick Cheney conducted under G.W. Bush. I recommend reading but not before bedtime - if you need to sleep. I totally agree with PSM's reminder to the press. Denmark faces substantial challenges in the globalized world where China is currently having an extremely fast-growing influence. The Danes have to relate to our role in the world. We can not compete at either low wages or inclination to work, so education, research and development and a favorable environment for small entrepreneurs is crucial for Denmark to weather through the next 20-30 years. On 21 November 2010 the Deputy Director of Enterprise and Construction Authority's wrote a post titled "Entrepreneurs Must be hungry, so they can feed us." It's quite incredible that an public manager in so high position can really make such nonsense. He and other government managers are motivated by bonuses, but entrepreneurs are motivated by hunger! I thought of a classic quote: "Are we not both people? Do we not both hurt when we stab us? Do we not both bleed, when we cut ourselves? "The official needs to get in touch with the real life. But I think now the politicians have a responsibility for the current poor state. For example. We saw the a liberal politician had started the "cause" of Helle Tornings husband's tax issues, which proved a) not to be an issue and b) have not had any country political interest. It was pure "Karl Rove". The lie is a sprinter - the truth is lagging far behind - after the injury has occurred. Lene Espersen must accept herself being caricatured in a deck chair due to her own actions, it corresponds well to that Poul Nyrup must accept himself in silly bycycle helmets. As Storm P said when he was criticized for drawing Swedes with blue-yellow noses, well, how else can one see that they are Swedes? Our current Prime Minister began by prioritizing his role as a father in front of his role as Prime Minister. It was neither wise nor well thought out. There are disposable personal cost of being allowed to contest the country's most important position of trust. I think people may require that the 2

government puts more emphasis on being government for the whole country in between the election period and not just government for the group which secured last election - with a focus on reelection. Down from the high horse. The wish for power sends unfortunately the ideals to the soap factory. Luckily it can then later be reused by the washbasin. Tegning Per Marquard Otzen in Politiken. The symbol of democracy is the empty podium - "I want to hear your views and understand your background, so together we can find sustainable balanced solutions." Neither right or left side are the only ones, which may have good ideas. The challenge now is at least as great as after the Second World War. We must think global and European and act local, as Gro H. Bruntland taught us a few decades ago. Unfortunately the TV series "Castle," which currently entertains the Danes, gives a complete distorted / skewed picture where spin doctor are portrayed as incredibly important and the civil service is largely absent. The foreign series "Yes Minister" from England and "West Wing" from USA gives far more nuanced images of cooperation and opposition among politicians and civil service. When voters spend time on the mass media, we may require to be enlightened and not just entertained. PSM could perhaps as Minister for Culture actively do something about it? I hope soon people are tired of the narrow block policy and the campaign against minorities, which do not have roots back to Gorm the Old. The recent strengthening in the area has created turmoil and division in almost all parties. Is it really the view of human nature, as the Danes vill be identified with? The shameful treatment of the Jews in 1930 also started with verbal outbursts. Ole Graabk p.s. This post was written in the november 2010. After the election in 2011 we have got a new government, who has promised to try to create results across the middle.