By: Isaac Christopher Lubogo
In the architecture of democracy, there exists an unspoken covenant: the people entrust public servants with power, expecting governance to flow with diligence and reason. Yet, the ongoing government shutdown in the United States lays bare a painful contradiction. Here, governance has stalled, yet those elected to serve remain insulated, drawing salaries while ordinary citizens shoulder the cost of indecision.
This is more than administrative failure; it is a philosophical and ethical crisis. The very essence of public service demands that power be inseparable from responsibility. If a legislator cannot fulfill the most elemental function of lawmaking—passing a budget to ensure the machinery of the state runs—should they continue to reap the privileges of office? Logic, justice, and conscience converge to suggest: no.
Imagine a system where legislative remuneration is directly tied to performance. A missed vote, a stalled appropriation, or a failure to govern effectively would automatically suspend compensation until the breach is remedied. Such a design does not merely punish; it restores moral alignment between officeholders and the citizenry. It signals that public service is neither a birthright nor a comfortable sinecure—it is an obligation anchored in consequence and conscience.
Moreover, this recalibration transforms the political culture itself. When the financial comfort of those in power is linked to their governance, the calculus of obstruction, deadlock, and partisan posturing shifts. The ordinary citizen would no longer bear the full weight of legislative inertia; instead, those entrusted with authority would confront the real cost of political paralysis.
In the Lubogo lens, this is not merely policy reform—it is a reassertion of civic morality, a clarion call reminding democracy that authority without accountability is tyranny disguised as governance. To fail in this principle is to betray not only the mechanics of the state but the very soul of the social contract.
In short: if the machinery of government grinds to a halt, it is the legislators, not the citizen, who must feel the friction. Only then can democracy be more than ritual—it can be reason in action.
