Some initial thoughts....and I am sure I will have more as I read more on this Board.
Our system of leadership has traditionally claimed the premise that public service is a noble undertaking engaged in by those who care more about the good of others and the whole than themselves. Unfortunately, however, in reality, this altruistic premise has little relationship to reality. It is unrealistic to expect that some portion of our leaders will not see leadership as a stepping stone to personal gain rather than as an end in and of itself. If we do not want people to use elected office as a financial stepping stone, we had better make the office itself financially secure so that people need not look for other opportunities to satisfy inherent financial requirements. The noble goals will not raise a family or make a house payment.
Second, we miss the opportunity to have some of the truly best and brightest be our leaders because we refuse to compensate them directly. For example, in Texas, state legislators get paid somewhere around $6500 a year. Such an inherently inadequate financial reward ensures that they have to make their living elsewhere and must trade on their leadership status to do so. I cannot count the numbers of people I have seen seek elected office simply because of the indirect or future financial opportunity it will guarantee them. I know a lawyer who ran for city council because he had seen others do so and have their legal business explode overnight. His gross annual income went from $200K a year to over $1M a year when he got elected. I know a number of people who have taken low paying judicial positions simply because they knew that after a few years in the position they could leave and obtain employment that would pay them several times what they were capable of making before they were a judge. Many people refuse to even consider any job in the public sector because the monetary compensation is insufficient.
By way of comparison, the local school superintendent makes around $240K a year, but judges in this state generally get paid $90K to $120K a year. When a first year lawyer going to work for a big firm will be paid $110K to $130K and a partner will make $300K+, one has to wonder little why we end up with many judges who no one would include among the best and the brightest.
My point is that if we want to be able to select elected leaders from the pool of the best and brightest, then we had better be willing to pay them accordingly so that they have no need to look elsewhere for financial stability. We cannot choose from the best unless the best want to be chosen.
Federal judges, with lifetime positions and decent, though still relatively inadequate, salaries are, as a group, among the least corrupt public servants you will ever find. Most do not find their way into the position until they have already demonstrated the success and qualities that make them fit for the job. They undergo meaningful screenings and background checks that weed out most of those who have no business in the position. I cannot say as much about many, if not most, of our elected officials.
The monetary issues aside for now, here are some radical ideas to think about. Much of this is thinking out loud and I am not certain that they are all good ideas, but they are ideas nonetheless.
Voting should be a mandatory obligation. Voter education should begin much earlier than a high-school senior year class on government, usually split with economics. How we can we expect people to know enough to make intelligent choices, if we make no meaningful effort teach them at a time when they are receptive to learning?
Eliminate political parties. They drive agendas, often on both sides to extremes, that have little to do with the overall good and are usually little more than divisive. Political parties institutionalize ignorance. Why make an effort to learn about something when you can just rely on someone else's biased and judgment? Winning and losing to these institutions becomes more important than quality. They become their own form of self-sustaining bureaucratic nightmares.
Citizens' expectations of the role of the government need to change and the government (and the elected leaders that run it) need to learn how to say no. Rather than asking what the government can or will do for them, which is what we all ask in one form another at one time or another, we need to be asking whether government action of any kind is really in the best interest of everyone. We need to find ways to be more self sufficient and depend less on the government to decide for us. More and more aspects of our daily lives are monitored by the government every day. Orwell, where are you?
Political office ought to require experience in political or elected office. For example, someone should not be able to run for city council without having been elected to a homeowner's association board or some kind of position that requires such skills. I don't know how this could be implemented as a practical matter, but family name ought not be enough to get someone elected (Bush) just as being personable (Clinton) ought not be a significant consideration. Experience (following integrity and wisdom) ought to be much more important.
Statesmanship ought not be a dirty word. Compromise ought not be considered a defeat. Doing nothing ought to be the first viable option. Getting elected ought not be more important than doing the right thing -- even though they are frequently in conflict.
Candidates for any elected office ought to be screened in some way before being eligible to seek such office. We have a large enough pool to choose from that we loose little by weeding out those who would rather not undergo such screening. It works very well for federal judges, at least on the integrity side, it might work well for elected offices as well.
Getting elected ought not be a function of who buys you first or most. We elected some darn good leaders before it cost millions to run television campaigns -- campaigns that are now more about the opponent's problems than the candidates virtues. The Internet may, over the long term, help to address some of this issue -- at least with respect to the money issues.
Only one thing is certain: no single magic solution will fix it all. The problems are intertwined and the solutions will need to be as well.
Nuff for now....
Troy
Those who shoot from the hip usually end up just shooting themselves.
Plan the grub and grub the plan.
Where is the party tonight? Who is bringng the drinks?
