THE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC TRUST: TEACHING VALUES ESSENTIAL FOR PUBLIC SERVICE

University students devote considerable time to studying science, philosophy, religion and art. Wise students use these disciplines to seek the answer to the question Aristotle asked centuries ago: How should one lead one’s life? As students leave school and progress onto their working career, hopefully, they will have gained some insights and answer that question correctly. After college life becomes as the poet T.S. Eliot describes: “As we grow older, the world becomes stranger, the patterns more complicated.” It takes moral strength to lead one’s life well, to persevere over a lifetime in the discharge of our duties to God, family, and country.

Many choose to serve their country either through service in the military or in elective office. In the case of the military, there is the opportunity for officer and character training at Annapolis, West Point, Air Force or Coast Guard Academies.  These institutions prepare sailors, soldiers, and cadets to serve competently and with honor when the patterns become more complicated. Leadership training is also necessary to prepare young leaders for public service in elective office. Although some universities offer advanced degrees in political science, these programs are not dedicated solely to training candidates to serve competently and with honor in elective office.

One organization that is answering the need to train candidates for public office is The Institute for the Public Trust (IPT). In addition to teaching their students the craft side of the candidate business, such as campaigning, polling, and fundraising, IPT prepares them to win and to govern ethically by including in their curriculum, teaching modules on “character in politics.” IPT also provides future office holders with extensive reading lists, including this one linked to Thomas Jefferson http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/reading2.htm#ancient.

In Politics with Principle, I showed readers how ten public servants who brought to their elective office virtues that they cultivated over a lifetime. IPT is committed to increasing the number of characters with character in public life. They are recruiting virtuous men and women who are already successful in business, medical, and legal careers  because they have practiced virtue. Those with such experience have answered the Aristotelian question already in a successful private sector career and life well lived.  These candidates will bring their knowledge of what is worth living for, what is worth dying for, what is foolish to pursue, and what is dangerous to neglect. I applaud IPT for their bipartisan effort in recruiting candidates with the values and wisdom essential for public service.