When people serve their country, they make sacrifices. It is the sacrifice that makes their service honorable and honest. Only a person willing to step down to serve has proven their real intention of bettering the country rather than themselves.
Public service of all sorts should have this basic tenet. Years ago, people were humbled by having a government job since many viewed this as a sign of a lack of value in the private sector. In decades past, a government job came with less pay and prestige than jobs in the private sector.
Over time, the salaries and benefits have increased. Public employment evolved into a step up and eventually a step above people in the private sector. Now, public employees get a PERA (Public Employee Retirement Account), which is very different from a Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, or 401(k). The PERA is very different for a reason, so you can’t make an apples-to-apples comparison. If people contributing to a Traditional IRA realized what benefits the PERA gives public employees, the citizens would grab their pitchforks and torches. Government employees are now compensated so well that leaving would be a step-down. They have no reason to return to the private sector.
When they never have to live under the laws and regulations they create, they have no problem creating onerous rules that crush the private sector. Nothing is more dangerous to liberty than to be governed by people who never made a living in the private sector and never intend to. Such a dynamic creates a culture of control and a lack of respect for citizens. When people have no reason to leave and can better their own lives by taking more from the public, this culture of control grows and festers. They see themselves not as servants but as masters of the people.
For the people to remain in control of the government, safeguards must be in place to ensure that public employees are motivated to return to the private sector as soon as possible, along with safeguards to remove them if they don’t leave on their own. They must go back to living under the rules they administrate while in public service. A mandatory retirement age well below the average mortality age would ensure government employees have a realistic expectation of living under the rules they create. There should be a lifetime limit to the years they can serve in a public position, i.e., ten years. Their service should be limited to 5 years if hired directly from college. After five years in the private sector, they can return for another five. Public service without life experience leads to tone-deaf servants.
To motivate public employees to return to the private sector, they should be paid at most 95% of their proven annual net income with no COLA (Cost Of Living Adjustment). With no COLA, inflation hurts them more than anyone.
Public employees shouldn’t pay taxes since their income comes from other people’s taxes. If a public employee is paid 100K gross income and pays 30K in taxes, they are being given 100K in other people’s taxes and giving back 30K. The honest way to compensate them is to pay the net income (70K), and they don’t pay tax.
If a person made an Adjusted Gross Income of 70K before public employment, they should at most be paid 66,500 (95% of proven worth) tax-free with no COLA. With this compensation system, they are motivated to return to the private sector, where they can earn more.
Public employees should forego their right to vote while serving due to the conflict of interest. They don’t contribute to the tax pool yet receive tax dollars. If they pay taxes out of income, which is already people’s tax dollars, they’ll argue, “We pay taxes too,” even though their entire income comes from other people’s taxes. The bottom line is if you don’t contribute to the tax pool, you don’t vote on its dispersion.
Retirement options for public employees should be the same as those available to small business owners. The small business market leads to the country’s wealth and the creation of the middle class. To ensure that the government doesn’t betray small business owners, they should have the same options in retirement, health care, and insurance. Creating two classes (public and private) results in a ruling class and is a betrayal of public trust. If any group should have less available, it should be the public employees. As stated earlier, sacrifice requires a step down, not a step up or above.
Employees should be paid less in the public sector; elected officials should agree to mandatory financial investigations to show they are not profiting from their office; judges and prosecutors should give up the right to run for office due to conflict of interest. These are just a few examples. Every public position should involve a sacrifice that motivates people to return to the private marketplace and eliminates conflicts of interest. As stated earlier, the sacrifice proves the honest intent of those serving. Without sacrifice, integrity is lost.
Since the people fund the government, they have every right to regulate it. If they fail to do so, the government will begin to control the people, and tyranny will begin to fester. Tyrants are not kind or forgiving. Therefore, the people should not be kind or merciful to transgressions by public employees because if so, they give power to tyrants who will impose their rules upon the citizens with no mercy or forgiveness. Absolute accountability is necessary to retain freedom. This means mandatory and harsh consequences for betrayals of the public trust. The side that regulates the other more is the side that has control. When the citizens have power, there is peace and civility. When the government has control, there is pain, suffering, oppression, and death.
Taking an oath to the Constitution is an act of fraud if you don’t know the Constitution. Government employees should be required to take and pass a civics and constitution test before employment. Public employees must have continuing education and pass yearly tests on the Constitution and citizens’ rights. Should they fail, they will be suspended from office but not dishonorably discharged. After suspension, they must pass the test to be reinstated. The sheriffs of the state should design the civil rights and constitution test.
The people have the right to hold the government accountable. Still, the people must exercise their authority with diligence, or the tables will turn, and the government will hold the people accountable to their dictates. It is the side that is held to the highest level of accountability, which is the servant. Mandatory consequences must be codified into law based on objective standards for betrayals of public trust. Mandatory consequences and objective standards keep public employees accountable for their actions.
Requiring public employees to pass tests on American history, civics, and the Constitution puts teachers in a situation where they must teach these subjects to students for them to get government employment after high school. The need to teach American history and values prevents activist teachers from teaching Marxism while ignoring our nation’s history with the intent of creating an army of activists in our government. Any person convicted of illegal political protests where crimes are committed (violent, destructive, etc) should be banned from public employment. Far too often, a conviction for violent protest is seen as a badge of honor and proof of commitment for those seeking government employment.
A career in public work is not service. Service is when you leave your career temporarily to donate time to society. It doesn’t mean they don’t get paid, but it should be a step down in their standard of living. These agenda items are critical to holding the government accountable to the people and should be on the docket with every legislator concerned with preserving a free republic. At worst, a compromise with those looking to increase government power would still put points on the board for those seeking to preserve liberty.