Whatever happened to the public servant? Isn’t that what a governmental office is supposed to be?

Politicians will promise anything. But, all I hear is what they say they will do “if elected.” That’s all I’m hearing now. Same old stuff. And that same old stuff might be necessary, but how did we get to the place where fulfilling campaign promises — that we have been repeatedly disappointed about — is the measure we use to elect our leaders?

How about we drop all the promises and concentrate on being a public servant? Being one of the people who provide order to other people’s daily lives. That would require that elected official’s character be known to the public at large.

Transparency would go a long way. Honesty, accountability, commitment and discipline are reasonable standards. Not a religious standard, though the majority of this country holds to some type of religious standard. And we do have to base this discussion on representing the majority. No one person can please everyone.

We are not here as a result of some cosmic accident. We, and our environment, are too complicated for an evolutionary process to come up with.

It seems to me that if elected officials would concentrate on being public servants, then we would have a much more effective government — one that we could be proud of.

Keith Alred, Wales