I have been thinking about this issue because of how dirty
this last primary season has gotten. The mud has not stopped flying.
I think the answer could come in two different measures:
The first would be an independent ethic’s commission where
people could file ethic complaints against any candidate running for office.
Any complaint found to be true would be published to the public. This would
keep people from attacking each other and even keep candidates from attacking
each other since any complaint would be filed with the ethics commissions and investigated
to find the truth.
An example would be if you found that a candidate was acting
unethical say like attacking another candidate for a past sexual harassment complaint.
Then that same candidate allowed someone who had the same type of history to
host a private fundraising party for their benefit. Someone could then file an
ethics complaint and have it investigated.
The second method would be to create a public servant’s
degree at the local colleges and universities.
This would not be like the political science degree since we
currently have that in place.
This degree would start with a two-year degree
that would teach the basics of local offices and ethics. It would teach students
how local government works and what the work requirements would be to hold city
offices. It would teach effective skills such as government management,
writing, reading and organizational abilities. You could have the students do internships
with local office holders.
The four-year degree would be for people interested in state
government offices. Those students would learn how to write state laws, what
the state constitution covered, and what the duties and responsibilities of
state office holders were. You could have specialty courses for each office.
Again ethics would be taught and other skills required to be a successful
office holder.
The Mastered degree would be for federal level office
holders and the Doctoral would be for offices like the federal supreme court
and the presidential position.
The schools would not accept candidates that could not pass a basis background check. All candidates would still be required to run in a race to get elected but since they were already educated about the duties, responsibilities, and skills of the office they were running for then they would be more acceptable over untrained and possibility unethical candidates.