What has any elected person ever done that has had a(n):
 

Big V asks:
What has any elected person ever done that has had a(n):

direct effect on you
was it positive or negative?

indirect effect on you
was it positive or negative?

Unless they run you down with their black SUV train, elected officials above a certain level have little direct effect. I have an interesting (to me) indirect effect.

Governor Cuomo decided to fight for Universal Pre-Kindergarten and Common Core. He did the necessary horse trading for funding etc... The governor came through with funding for full day UPK which the district jumped on immediately. Never mind that a full day program is not developmentally appropriate for most 4 year old humans (because naps = baby sitting) and a waste of resources and money since you could with the same money teach twice as many kids the same material in 1/2 a day. Common Core and its testing regimen are certainly inappropriate at the elementary level. Those were the obvious known items going in.

Naturally there are unintended consequences to the Gov's initiatives. The children with special needs who I serve(d) get their funding through the county department of health. They are funded for half day integrated program. This aligned nicely with either 1/2 day upk or 1/2 day Head Start programs. With full day upk children with special needs get full integration in the am with exposure to most of the academic programming. The pm SES children enter while children are getting up from nap. They are integrated for 2hrs and alone with staff for 1.5hrs. Obviously that does not meet the criteria of full integration which they must by law have unless the IEP stipulates otherwise. Staff also had to be hired for the hour nap-time. In our case, this didn't happen so we were in violation of either state employment laws or agency policy or both depending on how we three staff chose to cover lunch when 2 staff legally were required to be with children. So we were in the classroom from before 8 to after 4 with no opportunity to lesson plan, have team meetings, or organize the room. Remember that I work(ed) for a non-Union CBO doing contract work for the district and county. The nap coverage issue is supposed to be resolved when clearances come through from the state for a couple moms but I won't be there to see it.

note: I was ready for a career change anyway but this changed my time table, thanks Cuomo!

To whom, the politicians, the district, or the contractor?

Educators know it but they've been largely shouted down.

The mayor paid me when I trimmed his trees.

The direct effect on my wallet was positive, and enrichening.

The indirect effect on me was positively enhighening.

I should hope so, if we left it up to educators to figure out how to educate, next thing you know we'd have doctors healing sick people, and farriers shoeing horses. ;)

hmm... maybe I'll go into smithing.

Man is embiggened by honest labor.

Well, there are all the usual suspects: roads, fire and police, industrial standards, working condition regs, the military, and on and on.

Some folks say the above are all 'good' and 'direct' benefits of government involvement.

Some folks say the above are the result of private providers who are paid by the governors (on behalf of the taxpayers), so, the benefits of the above really are the result of individuals (and groups of individuals) with government as the mere conductor of funds and coordinator of service.

Where one stands, I think, depends entirely on individual disposition and experience.