Dear President-Elect Trump:
Self-interest in politics plagues us at every level. It starts with our definition of public service.
We suffer from a definitional problem that has changed the entire make up of what used to be public service. You are in a position to change that.
Before World War II, holding elected office meant that you gave of yourself to serve your fellow citizens. Thousands served on school boards, city councils, state legislatures, Congress, and the presidency. We paid them for their time while they were there. But when they left office, they left without any benefit for continued support. That kind of service contributed to America’s greatness.
No member of Congress received pension benefits prior to 1946. Members of Congress who left Congress before 1946 served and returned home.
That began to change in 1942 when Congress gave itself retirement pension benefits. An outraged public decried the action so loudly that Congress repealed the act. A few years later, Congress again gave themselves retirement benefits. This time, however, it delayed the implementation of their pensions for a few years. Predictably, any furor over pensions died by the time the congressional benefit began.
But the change in the culture of public service had been set in motion. Eventually, the meaning of public service changed from what it was then to what it is today. Today, elected office more closely resembles privileged service, which diminishes the selflessness that is the very essence of service.
Harry Truman was the first U.S. President to receive a pension. The 32 U.S. Presidents before President Truman were elected to the presidency, served, and went home without pay or pension of any kind.
Returning without pay provided a natural limitation on the time frame that people could serve.
America generally follows the examples of our leaders. Hence, the importance of being the right kind of leader.
Once Congress determined that it and presidents deserved retirement benefits for their service, state legislatures gradually followed suit. Today state legislators throughout the country receive retirement benefits for having served us in public office.
With public service redefined, cities and school board across the country were out of step with state and federal elected officials. Accordingly, city council members and school board members across America now receive retirement benefits for their years of service.
This type of perk creates career politicians, at every level, rather than motivating a limited time in office and a return to normal jobs.
It’s now 2016. We have forgotten what public service in elected office even used to mean. We expect our elected officials to give themselves pensions.
I haven’t researched to know the collective figure that all levels of government in every state pay for retirement benefits of former legislatures, city councils, and school boards. But I imagine that the figure is staggering. The result is a class of citizens across America who are on America’s hidden dole.
The damage to America isn’t merely monetary. The real cost is the way it altered the fabric of American service. Return to the traditional form of public service that America had for the first 170 years, by eliminating the counterfeit service that has overtaken us in the last 70 years, and we will be one step closer to making America great again.
We also might eliminate the heated debate over term limits as we see true servants leading us, then leaving because their necessity requires that the return and build their retirement.
It will be a struggle to persuade Congress to eliminate their pensions. But doing so will cause a reverberating chain reaction through all forms of American government that results in real service to America.
Sincerely,
David O. Leavitt
