What We Don’t Know About Government Can Hurt Us

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A poorly informed electorate makes it easier to vilify public servants, dismantle expertise, and replace governance with self-serving power.

The tumult of recent years has illuminated how little the average citizen knows about the United States government and the people who perform its functions. As politicians continue to slash civil service jobs and programs with pledges to eliminate “government waste,” it has become abundantly clear that many Americans don’t know how much those programs and people affect their everyday lives. The country has become susceptible to inaccurate and dangerous rhetoric because people don’t know what they don’t know; attacking the government during every election season becomes easier amidst this misunderstanding.

While the “deep state bureaucrat” meme is pervasive, most government employees do not remotely fit that profile. Someone who decides to become a civil servant, either in government or the military, most often does so because they feel called to improve or protect some aspect of American life. They want to fix problems and see systems operating smoothly so that everyone can benefit equally. Devotion to duty, social responsibility, and the common good are qualities that motivate the vast majority of public servants each day.

This set of values differentiates public service from the mentality that guides much of corporate America. The desire to make money is an admirable, productive, and essential trait in the commercial sector. Profitable businesses provide jobs and grow the economy. Successful entrepreneurs can better the lives of others by creating opportunities, providing services to communities, and developing innovative solutions. Profit motives, however, are not compatible with the missions and means required to lead and govern a country.

This incompatibility can become a problem when someone whose primary goal is to profit for themselves gets elected to an office of public trust and does not shift their objectives. Profit-making is predominantly organization- or self-centered. Public service, by its very definition, should be other-centered. It’s about serving the country and its people by upholding laws, institutions, and procedures designed to improve life for all. Tax dollars are the fuel for governmental functions, not for padding the bank accounts of politicians and their families. In this respect, Donald Trump and his family have allegedly accrued over $4 billion in combined profits and paper wealth since Trump’s return to office in January 2025.

Many Americans ignored the incompatibility of the private sector-public service traits in the last election, thinking that a “good businessperson” will make a good President. This assumption is dangerous, as illustrated by our current situation. The government is not a business. It must balance the needs of many different, often complex and competing, constituencies and interests while protecting rights, providing public goods and services, and operating under the rule of law within Constitutionally-mandated checks and balances constraints. When the government does well, public safety increases; citizens enjoy fair justice and greater opportunity, and most of all, people feel more secure. That, not profit margin, must be the goal of governance.

This is not to say that one cannot be both a successful businessperson and an excellent government administrator. History is replete with impressive examples of politicians who made both the transition and a difference. But, while business acumen is an asset, it is far from being determinative of success in navigating the complex set of tasks required to lead and manage public institutions.

A cabinet filled with people who have amassed wealth from private sector endeavors but are now in the public sector, and who disparage, ignore, or purge career expertise, and refuse to work with anyone other than ideological acolytes, is highly unlikely to produce the positive outcomes good government demands. Judged on results, the collective business acumen of these cabinet members (if that was, in fact, the source of their wealth) has failed to deliver anything resembling good governance. In reality, governing is hard, often opaque, and thankless work. It requires focus and attention. It demands that you spend time reading, listening to experts, collaborating, and communicating. It demands a set of values that places the common good above self-interest and conveys a deep respect for our government structures.

Voters, therefore, bear a profound responsibility. It is not enough to choose leaders who are entertaining at rallies, charismatic on television, or constantly trending online. Nor is it enough to assume that wealth, especially when combined with race and gender privileges, signals competence or moral fitness for office. In America, if you want to do just about any honest work, at any level of responsibility, from practicing law or medicine to teaching school to becoming a plumber, you will need experience. Experience to learn, experience to grow, and experience to know that the job you are about to do requires knowledge you don’t have.

If Americans demand it, we can have better leaders. Leaders who know how to protect and improve institutions rather than attack them for fun and profit. People who know that governing our great nation is complicated, and that we should listen to smart people who know more about certain topics than we do. People who view the office of the president as a public service, not a moneymaking scheme. We deserve leaders who understand that loyalty to the country is stronger than loyalty to a person.

We, the people, are the government. If we choose leaders with relevant experience who value dignity over demagoguery and exhibit humility over greed, we can have a government that we deserve. And we can have a democracy that wealth, fame, and wannabe TV titans won’t destroy.

Ambassador (ret.) Bonnie Jenkins is currently the Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University. She is also Founder and Executive Director of Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS). Jenkins served as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. From 2009 – 2017, Jenkins served as Special Envoy and Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation with the rank of Ambassador. She is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.