[Mick]

I mean, the vast majority of people who work at all stages of government are unelected.  I mean, imagine if we were voting on who should be general or who should head the OMB.

BC

Or more directly on the CHP officer who actually gives you the ticket. They make the decision, they don't have to ticket you. There is a chain of authority all the way up to Newsom, but that isn't going to do you much good on 280.

I had a Poli Sci prof back in the 1980s who wanted to do away with the Electoral College.  He didn't particularly trust elected representatives, and he advocated that we institute a national initiative system similar to California's initiatives.  Long live the tyranny of the majority...

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I mentioned off-hand that one of the hottest political seats around is police chief in a small town. They are fired constantly.

So, in these days, is health officer. Assuming that decisions made by either chiefs or health officers reflect detached, neutral science is rather naive. They are hopefully science based, but reflect the value judgments of the individual. They are naturally going to be controversial, and sharply disputed by one faction or another of the public.

Just like a football coach, you accept firing as part of the deal.

The father of my father-in-law (Stanford, '53) was a deputy sheriff in Palo Alto in the 1920s through the 1950s.  He worked Whiskey Gulch, with all that implies.  He was hired by my grandfather's (Stanford, '42) best friend, who was the sheriff of Santa Clara County back in the day.  Near the end of his life, my grandfather and father in law were reminiscing about being a small town sheriff.  Granddad, who was brought up in Potlatch, ID mused that the qualifications for being a sheriff in 1920s small town America was that, if you could take on four guys at once, you were the sheriff.  But you always had to have the voters in the back of your mind.

[Mick]

I mean, the vast majority of people who work at all stages of government are unelected.  I mean, imagine if we were voting on who should be general or who should head the OMB.

BC

Or more directly on the CHP officer who actually gives you the ticket. They make the decision, they don't have to ticket you. There is a chain of authority all the way up to Newsom, but that isn't going to do you much good on 280.

I had a Poli Sci prof back in the 1980s who wanted to do away with the Electoral College.  He didn't particularly trust elected representatives, and he advocated that we institute a national initiative system similar to California's initiatives.  Long live the tyranny of the majority...

---

I mentioned off-hand that one of the hottest political seats around is police chief in a small town. They are fired constantly.

So, in these days, is health officer. Assuming that decisions made by either chiefs or health officers reflect detached, neutral science is rather naive. They are hopefully science based, but reflect the value judgments of the individual. They are naturally going to be controversial, and sharply disputed by one faction or another of the public.

Just like a football coach, you accept firing as part of the deal.

The father of my father-in-law (Stanford, '53) was a deputy sheriff in Palo Alto in the 1920s through the 1950s.  He worked Whiskey Gulch, with all that implies.  He was hired by my grandfather's (Stanford, '42) best friend, who was the sheriff of Santa Clara County back in the day.  Near the end of his life, my grandfather and father in law were reminiscing about being a small town sheriff.  Granddad, who was brought up in Potlatch, ID mused that the qualifications for being a sheriff in 1920s small town America was that, if you could take on four guys at once, you were the sheriff.  But you always had to have the voters in the back of your mind.