Revitalized, Redesigned, Downsized, Reassigned and Closed: Concerns on the Future of Public Service in the United States

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Robert W. Smith
February 24, 2025

This commentary and essay is a call to action and does not come lightly. It comes from an academic and former practitioner and longtime ASPA member. As federal employees are laid off, fired, forced to leave, accept reassignment, moved into early retirement or downgraded, it seems only inevitable those reductions and sweeping changes will come for state and local government employees. But, this call for action is not just another call to support and empower the public service. Equally this call is not just another 50,000-foot level sales pitch or a new outreach campaign to those of you who provide our public goods and services at all levels of government. More fundamentally it is a visceral call to add your individual voices on behalf of all public servants who took an oath to serve our nation and our communities and our Constitution to the best of their ability. At the same time this message is a broader appeal to citizens and stakeholders who benefit from the hard work of public service employees to mobilize like never before on their behalf. This message of the public service imperative must flow through you to those citizens you serve (and surprisingly may not know it)!

This plea is also a call for a new definition or “paradigm” for the role of government in our society. Many seem reluctant to embrace that. I am suggesting a “New Democratic Paradigm for Public Administration.” It would call for a clearer connection to the service dimension and citizen involvement at all levels of government. It would be a new paradigm only to the extent that it would reinforce the ideals of the democratic foundation of the public service and require/inspire an outward facing bureaucracy to deliver public services. At the same time this is as much a proposition or challenge to the field to come up with a new paradigm. Hence my call is a plea for greater minds to come together to articulate this. In the halls of government, it calls for push back from every quarter inside and outside of government to articulate a new vision of public service with a view toward educating and embracing the public at large on the value of every aspect and element of what public service means to our communities across the nation. It is articulating the overarching viewpoint that each component and thread of what constitutes “government” in America is what makes America great. This places at the top of that imperative the public servants who serve the nation. This is equally a call to public servants in international public service and citizens worldwide, as well.

For the United States at this moment in history, it is a realization that public, private and nonprofit sectors have, and always will, work hand in hand to elevate our economy and American ideals. It embodies a 21st century reality that Keynesian economics is here to stay. It must acknowledge that the provision of public goods and services would not happen in a purely private sector dominated economy. Why? Because what we do is different than the private sector. The very nature of public goods and services and factors like nonrival, nonexclusivity, negative spillovers, is not understood nor appreciated. Public service has a bearing on people’s lives and indeed the very prosperity of the nation.

But such a message needs to be translated in a clear and concise manner. It is not anti-private sector or some disparagement of a Capitalist-driven economy. Instead, it is embracing the American economic and social system itself. And indeed, our democracy. I want my town government to supply water, trash services and road repairs. I want state grants to help my kids go to college. I want the federal government to make sure my consumer products and transportation systems are safe. I want the food and medicine I take to be lifesaving or life enhancing. I want our borders secure. I want Social Security and Medicare preserved. I want the United States to have the best defense and military systems to protect our interests. The list goes on from local to state to federal actions. Citizens need to keep hearing this from the public service and from those who benefit from it. And more significant, that talk must take place around the kitchen table in each of our homes in our communities, cities and hamlets. I am asking you to do that!

This is not to suggest there are no inefficiencies, productivity issues or inordinate spending in government. Yes, that needs to be addressed/corrected. Throughout the decades, government at all levels has been aware of the burden when government doesn’t function well. And the response has been to try to fix those problems. At the same time, these public issues, problems, concerns and policies are left to the public service to respond to or solve. Hence a rearticulation of the accountability role of government to deliver on the programs expected and asked for in a democratic government is necessary. No one else seems poised to do this. Indeed, the reform efforts have been notable yet at the same time are largely invisible to citizens at large.

Yet, the reform/improvement movement has a proud and proactive history that citizens and political leaders need to be reminded of: The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the Federal Reserve System, The New Deal (FDR Administration and response to the Great Depression), the Social Security Administration (SSA), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Administrative Procedure Act (APA), New Public Management (NPM), Great Society Programs (LBJ Administration), Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Civil Service Reform Act (Carter Administration), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). President Reagan’s efforts to reduce bureaucracy and promote deregulation, including privatization and outsourcing government services, the National Performance Review (Clinton Administration), “Reinventing Government” under Vice President Al Gore, the President’s Management Agenda (George W. Bush Administration), Government Performance and Results Act to manage their performance, Digital Governance & E-Government (2000s-Present), the Open Government Initiative (Obama Administration), Evidence-Based Governance & Performance Management, Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (First Trump Administration), Collaborative & Networked Governance leading to Agile & Adaptive Public Administration (2020s -present). Governments at all levels have embraced these reforms and improvements. We continue to teach this in public administration and policy curriculums as we prepare our future public servants. More significant is that these efforts have been grounded in preserving our very democracy. Share that reality and connection to the fabric of our democratic system of government.

I am suggesting that the reforms and evolution and progress have been the “middle name” of our field (those federal government reforms) that have set the standard for a responsive, ethical and competent public service. We (the field) must own those but do more: build in sunset features, embrace organization design and a more active incorporation of citizens into the halls of government. We must teach and push the envelope for applied research.

For the academic community who study public administration, public policy, government, political science and public affairs, it is not enough to teach the processes, structures, politics and theories of government. This plea or call to action equally goes to you.

There are three dimensions to this plea: a) push the envelope of knowledge of the field; b) strive to merge the theoretical import of our efforts into application visible to the public at large, and c) it is time to create a new paradigm for the field. Our past efforts are indicative of how we can do that. A new theory that explores and makes sense of a new/renewed paradigm of The Democracy of Public Administration must take center stage in our field. We have been proactive in our pursuit of sophisticated and analytic based approaches to both understand and advance our field. But the “citizen component” has suffered. Embracing that implicit and oftentimes debate in direction, in our discipline, has lost sight of our connectivity to the citizenry at large. Some may counter we have been doing that for a long time in our field – perhaps. But I will posit, perhaps not enough. Although this proposition may best be addressed by our best minds in the academy, the historical and practical connection to government as a phenomenon of democracy needs to return to the forefront of both research and application. It is not enough to periodically reflect. It is time for a “parlay” on the public service inclusive of citizens, politicians, stakeholders, academic and public servants. This effort necessarily must be the product of our best minds and leaders in our field. But no matter how you slice and dice this concept, the stakes are too high not to explore these democracy-grounded directions for our field.

Your constituents and citizens and our young people must be informed that public servants understand reform and efficiency and effectiveness and accountability and value citizen input. But above all, acknowledge that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is not new. More, a DOGE function that only cuts and downsizes without a context of reform with a view toward better services for the American citizen is missing the boat. And I suggest, may be a disservice to democracy itself. This is not to suggest that continued efforts at performance, cost-effectiveness or employing technology (AI) to modernize or streamline government is not welcomed. The hope is that such improvements will be done in an informed and accountable and responsive manner to improve upon our democratic system of government.

My focus in this essay/call to action to public servants, academics and citizens is to best understand public service and public servants as a means of operationalizing our democratic institutions and not as some monolith called bureaucracy. When seen in this light it is worth fighting for and not merely disrupting or dismantling.

This essay is not meant to be a history lesson. But in many respects the success of the “American experiment” depends on an appreciation for our history and the fundamental role of government in the success of this nation for more than 200 years. Public servants have been the backbone of this American experiment that has spurred good government and democratic systems across the globe.

So, to start at the beginning of this essay—yes this is a call for action. Maybe it is more a call to remember where we have been as a nation and a society and where we will go into the future. The value of public service is that “ticket” for success in the future. Not an obstacle. It may require a new paradigm of thinking of the value of government through a lens of democratic governance. If it requires some reminders to the American public, then that is our job—as public servants and those that study in the field.

Please join me and ASPA and other partners in spreading this message and allow us to be part of ensuring our government remains ethical, accountable and responsive to the citizens of this great nation.

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 Author: Bob Smith, professor at the University of Illinois-Springfield. He can be reached at [email protected].

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