Re: Why are we turned off by public service?

Description: Zakheim talks about the difficulty of keeping qualified people interested in government.

Transcript:  They get jaded.  I’ve seen all too many come in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, 24, 25, 28, 30.  And then they just get worn down.  And so by the time they’re 40, they’re thinking about the pension that they could qualify for when they’re 55.  You have a lot of dedicated public servants, but you have a lot of these others.  And the trick is to give them something meaningful to do.  It may . . .  I personally think our government’s still too big.  It may mean getting rid of maybe 25% of our bureaucrats; but the other 75% have to be given something meaningful.  They don’t all have that.

Recorded on: 7/2/07