The demise of public service

There was a time when America’s best and brightest – and wealthiest – went into public service out of a sense of noblesse oblige. 

Roosevelts, Rockefellers, Kennedys, Lodges, and other members of America’s landed aristocracy entered government service because they thought it was their civic duty.  They didn’t do it for money. 

They simply wanted to serve their country.  It was the right thing for the well-heeled to do. 

That was before our Federal government morphed into the self-serving entity it is now.   

And make no mistake, that’s what it’s become. 

Forget about the high and noble calling of civic duty.  The siren song of government employment today is not about serving the public interest; it’s about serving yourself with virtual bulletproof job security regardless of job performance, as long as you don’t rock the boat. 

At one time, the role of our Federal government was to insure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense.   Now it seems it spends much more time protecting and defending itself and its employees from the public they are supposed to serve. 

And as our government continues to grow and expand its employee base, and as it reaches deeper and deeper into our everyday lives, it’s also becoming further and further detached from the public it is tasked with serving.  Because of its insular nature, it doesn’t notice this contradiction. 

In essence, our government has become an entity of itself, by itself, and primarily for itself. It looks out for its own, at all costs, and is loathe to acknowledge – much less punish – any improprieties among its employees.  This often occurs with bureaucracies; ours happens to be on steroids

In effect, it’s taken on a life of its own, distinct and apart from the rest of the country.  It doesn’t have to follow the same rules as the rest of us.  Its employees don’t have to follow the laws and regulations they impose on the general population. 

It also operates within a completely separate economic system, unconstrained by supply and demand, budget concerns, or even generally accepted accounting principles.  It spends far more than it collects in taxes, prints money like the Weimar Republic, borrows billions more and thinks one solution is to raise the debt limit on its credit card so it can print and borrow even more.    

If our government were held to the same standards as it imposes on American businesses, it would be forced into bankruptcy, its remaining assets would be liquidated and distributed to its creditors, and a lot of people would probably be going to jail.

But that’s not going to happen.  Not because it shouldn’t, but because the Feds won’t let it. 

There’s a particularly dangerous group think that pervades our government that everyone in government is part of something bigger and somehow more important than anything else.  Because of that, they can’t be held to the same standards of behavior as ordinary citizens.  They believe they are the forces of righteousness who see more, know more, and therefore are entitled to more. 

While we plebeians putter along in our pedestrian lives, they are doing big things, things we can’t understand, things that are part of the “big picture” government employees alone see. 

The stuff the public finds disturbing they see as mere speed bumps.  Lois Lerner at the IRS is a perfect example.  Benghazi is another.  Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, anyone?  Solyndra?  

Federal government employees routinely escape serious punishment.  At worst, they get a paid leave of absence and get reassigned.  Try that outside of government and see what happens.

Now you may think I’m focusing mainly on the Obama Administration.  Certainly, they are part of the problem.  But so is Congress.  And so are the thousands upon thousands of Federal employees permanently ensconced in various departments and agencies throughout the government. 

There’s a pervasive attitude on the Federal level -- including among our elected officials – that the general public can’t be trusted to make intelligent decisions; intelligent defined as what they deem the right choices.   So they need to determine what foods we should eat, what fuel to put in our cars, who we should hire and how much we should pay them, where we should live, how we should get to work, what healthcare we should get, what health insurance we need and so on.

However, they’ll readily exempt themselves from all of this, because … well, they’re in the government.  So while some in Congress rail about student debt and tax cheats, it’s estimated that thousands of Federal employees – including those on Congressional staffs – have defaulted on their loans and/or owe back taxes.  And yes, that includes IRS employees.  

In the current debate over defunding or delaying ObamaCare, we learned that while the general public is being forced into it, Congress and their staffers won’t be.  They will continue to enjoy their subsidized healthcare plan.  The IRS – which will ensure that we all have “acceptable” healthcare or pay penalties – has managed to get its employees exempted as well. 

You would think conservative Republicans in Congress would see and seize on the bald-faced hypocrisy in this.  But when they were pushed on how they and their staffers got to keep their plan while the rest of us couldn’t, their response was that they were just maintaining “what all Federal employees get.”  

And there, folks, is the problem in a nutshell. 

Federal employees in general, and members of Congress and the Administration – regardless of political affiliation – believe they are entitled to special treatment.  It’s as if getting on the Federal payroll automatically enrolls you in a private club – or a street gang – which has its own rules of behavior outside the law and whose members always take care of each other, no matter what.

This is just wrong.  It’s also a major reason why there’s such a disconnect between the public and the government.  The American people don’t trust the Federal government.  There are too many instances of self-serving behavior at all levels to be ignored.    

They don’t trust Congress at all.  They don’t trust this administration to be honest with them, or to police itself.  Who can blame the public? 

They also believe government workers make too much and work too little compared to them. 

They wonder who the “non-essential personnel” are and why we have non-essential personnel on the government payroll at all. 

If fiscal hawks in Congress are really interested in cutting waste and fat – wouldn’t non-essential personnel seem to be first on the chopping block?  I mean, they are already defined as personnel that’s not really needed …  

Most of all, the tax-paying public doesn’t understand how government workers at all levels can have such a cavalier attitude toward the people paying their salaries and funding their benefits. 

That’s because many in the public still think government employees are public servants, when the reality is exactly the opposite.

More often than not, we now serve the government.  At least that seems to be the attitude of those in government – we exist as a funding mechanism and source of political currency.   

The Federal bureaucracy doesn’t really care what we think, ever.  Most Presidents appear to care when up for re-election, but actually don’t.  Congress only cares when House or Senate seats are up for grabs; even then, their interest in us is fleeting and passes as soon as the elections are over.  Then it’s back to self-serving business as usual. 

In the end, regardless of political party, what the government wants, it takes from us – our privacy, our personal liberties, the proceeds of our labors and enterprise.   

When it does this without the consent of the governed, we’re just supposed to go along.  Because it’s all for the greater good, right? 

Now I’m not preaching anarchy; I believe in the need for government.  Government can accomplish important, useful, and practical things far beyond the capabilities of individuals.  It can keep order and provide essential services to safeguard the health and well-being of its citizens.  Government can do an enormous amount of good and build things that benefit society as a whole.   

But good government needs to have high standards for integrity and honesty at all levels.  It needs to  remember that it exists only to serve the needs of  those it governs, and not just itself.   

I’m not so sure we have a government like that right now.