So while it always feels good to vent our frustrations, it's time to acknowledge that complaining about the media or the public's lack of appreciation won't help. What will help is focusing on how every person in this room can improve the performance of state government in ways that citizens will notice. What will help is understanding that we cannot evade the taxpayers' legitimate demand that we do more with less. And what will help the most is facing these challenges with a spirit of pride, optimism, confidence and idealism. If public service were easy, it would be boring.
Democracy is the toughest boss there is.
It is demanding, messy, complicated, and constantly changing. Democracy means that people are always looking over our shoulders, and second-guessing our decisions. And democracy means that public employees get the most excruciatingly difficult jobs. When families fall apart and children are neglected or abused, we're the ones who have to intervene. When our water resources are threatened with overuse or contamination, we're supposed to settle the disputes and protect the resource.