- Banned
- #1
Below is a compilation of posts from my thread from the General Forum on how to improve our failing government. Read it and accept it:
The first steps in repairing the government is a massive scaling down of the compensations of elected officials. This would include both salaries and perks.
In accordance with the basic principals of capitalism, the best and the brightest should be the most compensated and it is that compensation that attracts them to stressful and difficult jobs. The same cannot be said about public service. Public service, aside from being highly attractive and rewarding, has the caveat of a popularity contest to coincide with the obtaining of particular position - mainly the important positions.
So, it is not enough to simply be the smartest, you must also be the most popular. What this does is alienate intelligent yet unpopular candidates for public office. Since a highly intelligent person would achieve a high level of compensation much faster through the private sector, where popularity plays a lesser role, than the amount of time one would have to spend to reach a level of popularity high enough to allow one to obtain public office of equivalent compensation.
Essentially the goal of any government job is to serve the publics best interest within a logical spectrum. This cannot be fulfilled as the vast compensation, power and prestige of such a position will tempt incumbents to maintain this position by skipping correct moral, ethical or logical decisions in lieu of those popular amongst the majority of their constituents.
What must be done is the transformation of public service. The positions must not attract those who are seeking to benefit financially through misuse of power. The compensation must be minimal, the positions must be unattractive.
So, where does this leave us? Will our senators and congressmen be complete morons who win a popularity contest yet have the same skill set as that of a post office clerk? Perhaps, such is not entirely the outcome.
Basic human nature dictates that human beings are primarily self serving which is absolutely correct when the decisions you undertake primarily influence the prosperity of your own interests. However, when you are compensated for undertaking decisions that have a direct effect on a greater public, your decisions must follow a 'greatest good for the most amount of people' theorem WITHIN a logically sound context.
This means that the elected official need pass a logic, ethics and morality test before being allowed to make decisions that would influence the masses. How do we accomplish this when human nature is self serving? Either increase the level of compensation to attract the most brilliant or decrease the level of compensation to attract the most successful.
Naturally, a high level of intelligence or success does not always equate to a logical, moral and ethical person. However, there is a far higher probability that one who is successful is also intelligent and thus at least logical. And while logic outweighs morailty and ethics, they are far more parellel than most believe. And of course the alternative is a dumber, less successful person who may or may not be logical, ethical and moral, etc etc.
Back to our test: Option 1 - the increase of compensation.
There is an intelligence pool from which we draw. The very best of this pool, if they choose to do so, end up widely successful and wealthy. To attract these individuals, compensation must be equal to millions of dollars that they would otherwise make in other, far more lucrative, fields. It is improbable that this level of compensation would be reached. Furthermore, with such a high level of compensation, it would increase the likely hood of corruption to obtain such a position from those who aren't wealthy but are smart.
Don't get me wrong. I am all for paying the maximum allowable compensation to anyone who does impecable work, however even if this was possible in a short term, it would not stand the test of time.
Option 2 - the lowering of compensation.
The lowering of compensation will serve to eliminate individuals who seek personal financial prosperity from holding public office as a first, and the serving of the public a second. Ideally only individuals who serve their own desire to be virtuous will hold office.
Where would the elected officials I speak of come from? Well, in theory the majority of them would come from those who are already wealthy enough to not be corrupt; or rather as corrupt as those who aren't [as ]wealthy. Since the monetary compensation level would be minimal, their reward would be the desire to feel 'good' about serving their country.
An example to illustrate my point: we are seeking people not like those who join the military because they have no other choice, but we are seeking those who join the military when they have everything solely to serve their country - like a Pat Tillman.
Of course some may argue that such a position may draw individuals, who, while intending to do good, are so absent minded and lacking of logic that they will wage destruction. Well, to this I answer as follows: It is up to the voter masses to decide who governs them and while I find the public masses to be fools, it is not solely up to me or anyone else to ultimately make such a decision. Though, inherently, if the decision were solely up to me we would be better of.
The fact that elective offices are already full of absent minded hypocrites is irrlevant. At the very least, consider that any imbecile elected into office would at least be working for nearly nothing.
So where do we stand now? The compensation level of our current offices are as such that they are high enough to attract competition from parties that are smart enough to get elected but are not smart enough or too corrupt to make logical or ethical choices within the description of their jobs. Essentially the median rating for the current personnel would be mediocrity to lower mediocrity.
If the compensation levels of elected officials continue to stay above the median national salary, and if legislatures are continued to allow to vote themselves increases in compensation this country will continue to decline.
Keep in mind this is not the end all, be all solution. This is simply blueprint from which a foundation can be created that will lift our government from the pit of corruption.
Salvation will be found within my words, for I am the truth.
-SporK
The first steps in repairing the government is a massive scaling down of the compensations of elected officials. This would include both salaries and perks.
In accordance with the basic principals of capitalism, the best and the brightest should be the most compensated and it is that compensation that attracts them to stressful and difficult jobs. The same cannot be said about public service. Public service, aside from being highly attractive and rewarding, has the caveat of a popularity contest to coincide with the obtaining of particular position - mainly the important positions.
So, it is not enough to simply be the smartest, you must also be the most popular. What this does is alienate intelligent yet unpopular candidates for public office. Since a highly intelligent person would achieve a high level of compensation much faster through the private sector, where popularity plays a lesser role, than the amount of time one would have to spend to reach a level of popularity high enough to allow one to obtain public office of equivalent compensation.
Essentially the goal of any government job is to serve the publics best interest within a logical spectrum. This cannot be fulfilled as the vast compensation, power and prestige of such a position will tempt incumbents to maintain this position by skipping correct moral, ethical or logical decisions in lieu of those popular amongst the majority of their constituents.
What must be done is the transformation of public service. The positions must not attract those who are seeking to benefit financially through misuse of power. The compensation must be minimal, the positions must be unattractive.
So, where does this leave us? Will our senators and congressmen be complete morons who win a popularity contest yet have the same skill set as that of a post office clerk? Perhaps, such is not entirely the outcome.
Basic human nature dictates that human beings are primarily self serving which is absolutely correct when the decisions you undertake primarily influence the prosperity of your own interests. However, when you are compensated for undertaking decisions that have a direct effect on a greater public, your decisions must follow a 'greatest good for the most amount of people' theorem WITHIN a logically sound context.
This means that the elected official need pass a logic, ethics and morality test before being allowed to make decisions that would influence the masses. How do we accomplish this when human nature is self serving? Either increase the level of compensation to attract the most brilliant or decrease the level of compensation to attract the most successful.
Naturally, a high level of intelligence or success does not always equate to a logical, moral and ethical person. However, there is a far higher probability that one who is successful is also intelligent and thus at least logical. And while logic outweighs morailty and ethics, they are far more parellel than most believe. And of course the alternative is a dumber, less successful person who may or may not be logical, ethical and moral, etc etc.
Back to our test: Option 1 - the increase of compensation.
There is an intelligence pool from which we draw. The very best of this pool, if they choose to do so, end up widely successful and wealthy. To attract these individuals, compensation must be equal to millions of dollars that they would otherwise make in other, far more lucrative, fields. It is improbable that this level of compensation would be reached. Furthermore, with such a high level of compensation, it would increase the likely hood of corruption to obtain such a position from those who aren't wealthy but are smart.
Don't get me wrong. I am all for paying the maximum allowable compensation to anyone who does impecable work, however even if this was possible in a short term, it would not stand the test of time.
Option 2 - the lowering of compensation.
The lowering of compensation will serve to eliminate individuals who seek personal financial prosperity from holding public office as a first, and the serving of the public a second. Ideally only individuals who serve their own desire to be virtuous will hold office.
Where would the elected officials I speak of come from? Well, in theory the majority of them would come from those who are already wealthy enough to not be corrupt; or rather as corrupt as those who aren't [as ]wealthy. Since the monetary compensation level would be minimal, their reward would be the desire to feel 'good' about serving their country.
An example to illustrate my point: we are seeking people not like those who join the military because they have no other choice, but we are seeking those who join the military when they have everything solely to serve their country - like a Pat Tillman.
Of course some may argue that such a position may draw individuals, who, while intending to do good, are so absent minded and lacking of logic that they will wage destruction. Well, to this I answer as follows: It is up to the voter masses to decide who governs them and while I find the public masses to be fools, it is not solely up to me or anyone else to ultimately make such a decision. Though, inherently, if the decision were solely up to me we would be better of.
The fact that elective offices are already full of absent minded hypocrites is irrlevant. At the very least, consider that any imbecile elected into office would at least be working for nearly nothing.
So where do we stand now? The compensation level of our current offices are as such that they are high enough to attract competition from parties that are smart enough to get elected but are not smart enough or too corrupt to make logical or ethical choices within the description of their jobs. Essentially the median rating for the current personnel would be mediocrity to lower mediocrity.
If the compensation levels of elected officials continue to stay above the median national salary, and if legislatures are continued to allow to vote themselves increases in compensation this country will continue to decline.
Keep in mind this is not the end all, be all solution. This is simply blueprint from which a foundation can be created that will lift our government from the pit of corruption.
Salvation will be found within my words, for I am the truth.
-SporK
