Public servants should be the best

I find it interesting a recent article quoted Adlai Stevenson that "there is no nobler calling" than public service. And an editorial by David Ignatius, noting the "Not in my term of office" attitude that keeps things from being built right in the first place, leading to costly emergency failures and huge costs to taxpayers. He also lamented that politics no longer seems to attract the "best and brightest." Most of the public seems to agree the quality of public officials is less than it ought to be.

While political salaries may be more than most Americans have to survive on, they still pale in comparison to those of corporate chief executives, partners in reputed law firms, and even many school superintendents. So that no doubt deters many. And most folks don't want their name publicly dragged through the mud on a regular basis.

However, in the past, many did heed the calling. Ben Franklin, credited with the saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," entered public service after he made his fortune. While you may disagree with Stevenson's politics, most did in 1982, you must agree that public service is a calling that our best and brightest ought to be answering.

Peter VandeMotter

Mundelein