By Michael Partem, Adv.*

Government cannot escape its fair share of blame for the current global financial meltdown. Elected officials and regulators have clearly fallen short in their oversight and regulatory tasks. Yet the public is relying on many of these same officials to help get the economy back on track. There has never been a more crucial time to reinforce the basic principles of quality government.

No one doubts the magnitude of the task of restoring economic growth. This is a tough challenge that can stymie even the best of intentions. The decision to open the floodgates to massive government intervention only increases the unease over the potential collateral damage should these efforts go awry.

Public spending always risks public corruption. Given the severity of the crisis, the pressures to cut corners and take detours around time consuming oversight will be intense. It would be a great shame if well meaning programs are thwarted by sleaze. The down side of mismanagement could be disastrous.

Now is the time to reinforce the ideals of probity and quality in the public sector. Holding government accountable to the highest values of public service, no matter what pressure there is to deviate from them, can greatly improve the chances for success in putting the economy back on track.

For thousands of years sages have looked for ways to discern the correct path, the proper balance of action and inaction, a means of achieving results without the collateral damage caused by misplaced zeal.

One such scholar is known to us as Lao Tze who in or around the 6th Century BC wrote a work in Chinese known as the Tao Te Ching (or Way of the Tao). This is not an easy work to understand. The Way of the Tao deals with the fundamentals of human existence. The principles of life and government are one. Governance must also submit to these ideals: "Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao" .

Lao Tze however deep a thinker he was, was unacquainted with the possibilities of democracy. His advice was directed to the emperor and not the elected official. Thankfully we no longer have to rely on an absolute ruler's sense of self control. The Way of the TAO has been replaced by the Way of the TAW: Transparency; Accountability and Whistleblower protection.

Government that is characterized by a lack of transparency, holds no official accountable for misdeeds and is indifferent to those brave voices inside the system who have uncovered malfeasance, is a negligent government or worse. Application of the values of transparency, accountability and whistle blower protection requires constant effort but to abandon the way of the TAW is to put the public at peril.

People may subscribe to differing degrees of government intervention in the private sector, but there is a broad consensus that the public sector has essential oversight and regulatory tasks. People understand that abandonment of the values of transparency, accountability and whistleblower protection undermines the very essential job of government. To help insure its success, the TAW must be a concomitant component of the effort to extract the world economy from the current imbroglio.


We would do well to take an example from the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program established in 1941 also known as the Truman Committee. On the eve of America's entrance into World War II the US Administration responded to the greatest challenge the free world had ever known with a massive ramping up of military spending. Despite the Administration's displeasure, one junior senator was grudgingly permitted to investigate those very efforts deemed necessary to prepare the US for the fight. Harry Truman refused to be sidetracked by slogans or cowed by military rank. He said, "There is no substitute for the facts."

At first, the Truman Committee was derided as a useless thorn in the side of the war effort. But over time its investigations into military spending produced real results in eliminating wastage and corruption. The Truman Commission came to be seen an important component to national security. In March 1943 Time Magazine wrote that in many ways "the Truman Committee was among the outstanding successes of the entire war effort. It was the "watchdog, spotlight, conscience and spark plug to the economic war-behind the lines."

Harry Truman may not have been an expert on Chinese philosophy but he was a master of the TAW. Today we are embarking on a veritable world war on recession. Massive budgets are being marshaled for the cause. The pressures are intense. This is no time to cut corners on fundamental values of good government. Let us hope that today's elected leaders and public officials imbue the war against global recession with the same values, determination and public spirit mastered by Harry Truman.

january 2009 

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1 The Tao-te Ching By Lao-tzu Translated by James Legge, Chapter 26

2 Truman by David McCullough, page 260.
3 Truman by David McCullough, page 285


* Vice Chairman of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel , practices law in Jerusalem .