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curiousdannii
curiousdannii
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We want our government leaders, whether politicians or public servants, to be able to give peak performance in their roles. Good pay does not guarantee this, but it does help reduce many concerns:

  • We want them and their families to be able to afford good health care, so that they remain healthy, do not stress about their family members' health, and do not have to take leave to care for them. Of course accidents and unexpected illnesses can happen to anyone, but we don't want preventable health problems from happening.
  • We don't want our leaders to be tired from long commutes. The cost of living in many cities is expensive, but we want our leaders to be able to live where decisions need to be made rather than spending hours each day travelling from a distant suburb. (Of course it would be good for all of us if governments also strategically aimed to decentralise various government agencies and reduce sprawl.)
  • We want our leaders, particular public servants who don't campaign, to genuinely come from the top of their field. If the best doctors, lawyers, educators, administrators, etc can all find well-paying, fulfilling jobs with great work environments elsewhere then we'll be left with lower-tier candidates. Of course some of the best will never be enticed when wealth-building is their goal. But for those who don't, for whom serving the people is an intangible benefit, when they consider all the roles they could take, we want our government roles to be competitive, both in remuneration, as well as work environment. We don't want those to take the roles to be resentful that they didn't choose to work in a university or something else instead, we want them to be happy with the role they chose so that they can continue governing well for us. For potential politicians, the road ahead of them is gruelling, often humiliating, and they and their families are likely to feel attacked from many sides. No wonder that many people would feel that the pay of any politician could never compensate them for gauntlet of campaigning and ruling.
  • Jörg W Mittag reminded me that one of the big purposes historically for paying government workers well is that we want them to be financially stable to discourage corruption attempts. Obviously this can't prevent all corruption, but if government workers are paid well then they shouldn't ever be in the situation when they feel they must accept bribes. (Of course sometimes people will get into gambling debts etc, but we can aim to make it very uncommon.)

We want our government leaders, whether politicians or public servants, to be able to give peak performance in their roles. Good pay does not guarantee this, but it does help reduce many concerns:

  • We want them and their families to be able to afford good health care, so that they remain healthy, do not stress about their family members' health, and do not have to take leave to care for them. Of course accidents and unexpected illnesses can happen to anyone, but we don't want preventable health problems from happening.
  • We don't want our leaders to be tired from long commutes. The cost of living in many cities is expensive, but we want our leaders to be able to live where decisions need to be made rather than spending hours each day travelling from a distant suburb. (Of course it would be good for all of us if governments also strategically aimed to decentralise various government agencies and reduce sprawl.)
  • We want our leaders, particular public servants who don't campaign, to genuinely come from the top of their field. If the best doctors, lawyers, educators, administrators, etc can all find well-paying, fulfilling jobs with great work environments elsewhere then we'll be left with lower-tier candidates. Of course some of the best will never be enticed when wealth-building is their goal. But for those who don't, for whom serving the people is an intangible benefit, when they consider all the roles they could take, we want our government roles to be competitive, both in remuneration, as well as work environment. We don't want those to take the roles to be resentful that they didn't choose to work in a university or something else instead, we want them to be happy with the role they chose so that they can continue governing well for us. For potential politicians, the road ahead of them is gruelling, often humiliating, and they and their families are likely to feel attacked from many sides. No wonder that many people would feel that the pay of any politician could never compensate them for gauntlet of campaigning and ruling.

We want our government leaders, whether politicians or public servants, to be able to give peak performance in their roles. Good pay does not guarantee this, but it does help reduce many concerns:

  • We want them and their families to be able to afford good health care, so that they remain healthy, do not stress about their family members' health, and do not have to take leave to care for them. Of course accidents and unexpected illnesses can happen to anyone, but we don't want preventable health problems from happening.
  • We don't want our leaders to be tired from long commutes. The cost of living in many cities is expensive, but we want our leaders to be able to live where decisions need to be made rather than spending hours each day travelling from a distant suburb. (Of course it would be good for all of us if governments also strategically aimed to decentralise various government agencies and reduce sprawl.)
  • We want our leaders, particular public servants who don't campaign, to genuinely come from the top of their field. If the best doctors, lawyers, educators, administrators, etc can all find well-paying, fulfilling jobs with great work environments elsewhere then we'll be left with lower-tier candidates. Of course some of the best will never be enticed when wealth-building is their goal. But for those who don't, for whom serving the people is an intangible benefit, when they consider all the roles they could take, we want our government roles to be competitive, both in remuneration, as well as work environment. We don't want those to take the roles to be resentful that they didn't choose to work in a university or something else instead, we want them to be happy with the role they chose so that they can continue governing well for us. For potential politicians, the road ahead of them is gruelling, often humiliating, and they and their families are likely to feel attacked from many sides. No wonder that many people would feel that the pay of any politician could never compensate them for gauntlet of campaigning and ruling.
  • Jörg W Mittag reminded me that one of the big purposes historically for paying government workers well is that we want them to be financially stable to discourage corruption attempts. Obviously this can't prevent all corruption, but if government workers are paid well then they shouldn't ever be in the situation when they feel they must accept bribes. (Of course sometimes people will get into gambling debts etc, but we can aim to make it very uncommon.)
Source Link
curiousdannii
curiousdannii
  • 1.7k
  • 1
  • 15
  • 26

We want our government leaders, whether politicians or public servants, to be able to give peak performance in their roles. Good pay does not guarantee this, but it does help reduce many concerns:

  • We want them and their families to be able to afford good health care, so that they remain healthy, do not stress about their family members' health, and do not have to take leave to care for them. Of course accidents and unexpected illnesses can happen to anyone, but we don't want preventable health problems from happening.
  • We don't want our leaders to be tired from long commutes. The cost of living in many cities is expensive, but we want our leaders to be able to live where decisions need to be made rather than spending hours each day travelling from a distant suburb. (Of course it would be good for all of us if governments also strategically aimed to decentralise various government agencies and reduce sprawl.)
  • We want our leaders, particular public servants who don't campaign, to genuinely come from the top of their field. If the best doctors, lawyers, educators, administrators, etc can all find well-paying, fulfilling jobs with great work environments elsewhere then we'll be left with lower-tier candidates. Of course some of the best will never be enticed when wealth-building is their goal. But for those who don't, for whom serving the people is an intangible benefit, when they consider all the roles they could take, we want our government roles to be competitive, both in remuneration, as well as work environment. We don't want those to take the roles to be resentful that they didn't choose to work in a university or something else instead, we want them to be happy with the role they chose so that they can continue governing well for us. For potential politicians, the road ahead of them is gruelling, often humiliating, and they and their families are likely to feel attacked from many sides. No wonder that many people would feel that the pay of any politician could never compensate them for gauntlet of campaigning and ruling.