Rebuilding Trust in Our Government (R)

Rebuilding Trust in Our Government (R)
One of Americas statesmen stated “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” His presidency ushered in an era of disdain for government and a widespread cynicism that government could be effective in addressing our challenges.
Today, as we confront a crisis that has shaken confidence in our financial system and economy, we have an opportunity to restore public trust and confidence in the legitimate role of government. Indeed, to effectively tackle our economic challenges and to implement the reforms we need in our healthcare, education, energy, and environmental policies, our government will need to garner strong public support.
However, rebuilding public trust will not happen in the face of a pervasive perception that government is not transparent and accountable, cronyism is rampant, and public officials are more interested in helping themselves than in serving the public good.
Taking strong, swift, and decisive action to address abuses and begin to rebuild public trust should be the first priority for our city, state and federal government in the new legislative session.
Create a Task Force on Public Integrity with a mission to develop a comprehensive proposal for ethics and lobbying reform in our city and state. Which addresses reforms in three areas: (1) strengthening enforcement of ethics, campaign finance, and lobbying laws; (2) strengthening civil and criminal penalties for abuses; and (3) improving awareness and education for public officials.
Reinforce honesty, integrity and transparency by government officials as the core requirement to be and stay in office, any violations of these core tenets will cause the removal of the public official and the loss of "all benefits" retroactive. I think we should consider putting public official on a base salary plus commission based on performance.
While the many of our elected officials and government employees are honest, dedicated public servants, the actions of a few create a dark cloud over all.
Taking strong, swift, and decisive action to address these abuses and begin to rebuild public trust should be the first priority for our city, state and federal government in the new legislative session.
Compiled by: YJ Draiman

PS

We need honest government with integrity.

“Good leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion”
Public confidence in the integrity of the Government is indispensable to faith in democracy; and when we lose faith in the system, we have lost faith in everything we fight and spend for.

As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end.

Change is inevitable. Change for the better is a full-time job.

Action speaks louder than words.

Every age needs men who will redeem the time by living with a vision of the things that are to be.

Freedom is not an ideal; it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than the freedom to stagnate.

Action speaks louder than words.

An Independent is someone who wants to take the politics out of politics, a person with principles.

Trust in government

The ability of governments and the global community to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, ensure security, and promote adherence to basic standards of human rights depends on people's trust in their government. However, public trust in government and political institutions has been declining in both developing and developed countries in the new millennium. One of the challenges in promoting trust in government is to engage citizens, especially the marginalized groups and the poor, into the policy process to ensure that governance is truly representative, participatory, and benefits all members of society. Where governance processes are exclusionary and basic services are not accessible, intrastate conflicts and violence within the country can negatively impact national and global security and peace. Weak systems and processes of governance tend to erode trust in government. Within this context, the issue of how to build trust in government and trust between socio-economic actors has emerged as an increasingly important issue in both developed and developing economies.

Rebuilding Trust in Our Government

One of Americas statesmen stated “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” His presidency ushered in an era of disdain for government and a widespread cynicism that government could be effective in addressing our challenges.

Today, as we confront a crisis that has shaken confidence in our financial system

and economy, we have an opportunity to restore public trust and confidence in

the legitimate role of government.  Indeed, to effectively tackle our economic

challenges and to implement the reforms we need in our healthcare, education,

energy, and environmental policies, our government will need to garner strong

public support.

However, rebuilding public trust will not happen in the face of a pervasive
perception that government is not transparent and accountable, cronyism is
rampant, and public officials are more interested in helping themselves than in
serving the public good.
Taking strong, swift, and decisive action to address abuses and begin to
rebuild public trust should be the first priority for our city, state and federal government in the new legislative session.
Create a Task Force on Public Integrity with a mission to develop a comprehensive proposal for ethics and lobbying reform in our city and state. Which addresses reforms in three areas: (1) strengthening enforcement of ethics, campaign finance, and lobbying laws; (2) strengthening civil and criminal
penalties for abuses; and (3) improving awareness and education for public
officials.
Reinforce honesty, integrity and transparency by government officials as the core requirement to be and stay in office, any violations of these core tenets will cause the removal of the public official and the loss of "all benefits" retroactive.
While the many of our elected officials and government employees are honest, dedicated public servants, the actions of a few create a dark cloud over all.

Taking strong, swift, and decisive action to address these abuses and begin to
rebuild public trust should be the first priority for our city, state and federal  government in the new legislative session.
Compiled by: YJ Draiman