By Henry McClure | June 2026
When I was a kid — I was born in 1959 — government jobs had a certain reputation. They were steady. They had pensions. But let’s be honest: a lot of people viewed them as the spot for folks who couldn’t quite make it in the real world of business. The pay wasn’t flashy, the status wasn’t high, and the ambitious, risk-taking builders were out there in the private sector creating jobs, companies, and value.
Fast forward, and everything flipped. Today, government positions — local, state, and federal — often come with competitive pay, strong benefits, generous pensions, and job security that’s rare in private industry. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows state and local government workers have significantly higher benefit costs per hour worked (around $25.59 versus $14.01 in private industry). These jobs are now highly coveted. People actively pursue them.
That shift worries me. When government work becomes a prime career destination prized for its perks and stability, we risk losing the hard-nosed, rational, bottom-line thinking that comes from having to make payroll, satisfy real customers, and stay competitive every single day.
Business People Think Rationally Because They Have To
Business experience forces a different lens:
- Every dollar is someone else’s money that could go elsewhere — so you obsess over return on investment, cutting waste, and delivering value.
- If costs get out of line or service slips, customers leave and you fail. There’s real accountability.
- You adapt fast, negotiate tough deals, measure results, and innovate — or the competition buries you.
- You hire and reward based on performance, not politics or who you know.
Government doesn’t face the same pressures. It can raise taxes and fees, borrow against the future, or grow the bureaucracy without immediate consequences. That’s why we see costs rising in basic services while outcomes sometimes lag.
This isn’t an attack on public workers — plenty are dedicated professionals. It’s about the incentives and mindset at the leadership level. Career politicians and long-term insiders often master navigating the system and getting re-elected. Running government like a successful business requires different skills: fiscal discipline, genuine customer focus (residents are the customers), and a drive to grow the pie instead of just slicing it differently.
Let’s Dumb This Down — Because It Affects Real People
I want to make this simple enough that anyone who’s ever worried about a bill can understand it.
Imagine your car breaks down and you need it fixed to get to work. You have two choices:
- Your nice friend from church or the neighborhood who’s always been friendly but has never professionally fixed cars.
- The experienced mechanic with 20+ years, a shop full of tools, references, and a track record of getting it right the first time on budget.
Who do you pick — especially when your family’s income depends on that car running?
Voting for government is the same thing. We’re choosing people to manage our money, our services, and our future. Picking your friend, your neighbor, or the familiar incumbent just because they’re likable or asked nicely is like choosing the buddy over the pro. It might feel good in the moment, but when the higher water bill, slower growth, or missed opportunities hit your family, everyone pays — especially those who can least afford it.
If you’re struggling to pay your water bill today, the people who have been in office the longest helped shape the policies, budgets, rate structures, and decisions that got us here. New blood with real private-sector experience brings the chance to approach problems differently — with fresh eyes and proven tools for efficiency and results.
The Topeka Picture: Rising Costs and Who Pays
Here in Topeka and Shawnee County we’re feeling real pressures. Utility rates have climbed over the years, with recent public discussions about further adjustments and real affordability concerns for residents. When basic services like water keep getting more expensive, it hits hardest the people already stretching to make ends meet. Our county poverty rate sits around 12.7% — thousands of neighbors feel every increase directly in their monthly budgets.
At the same time, we face ongoing questions about economic vitality, attracting good jobs, and keeping young families here so Topeka can be the kind of place the next generation wants to raise their own kids. Long-term incumbents bring continuity, but when costs keep rising and opportunities feel limited, it’s fair to ask whether the same approaches are delivering the best results for working people.
Business experience changes the questions we ask. Someone who’s met a payroll, negotiated real contracts where every dollar matters, analyzed whether a project actually pencils out, and competed in the marketplace understands:
- How to evaluate development deals and incentives for genuine long-term community benefit, not just short-term headlines.
- Why predictable, efficient government processes matter for attracting employers and investment.
- That growing the tax base responsibly spreads costs more fairly than repeatedly raising rates on the same residents.
Patterns from across the U.S. show that governors and mayors with private-sector backgrounds often correlate with stronger economic growth, gains in personal income, shifts toward infrastructure investment, and more disciplined fiscal approaches. It’s not magic — it’s the practical mindset of people who’ve built things in the real world.
A Simple Global Insight
Look around the country and the world. Places that bring business-style rationality into government — treating taxpayer resources with the same care as private capital — tend to see better results: more dynamic economies, better-maintained infrastructure, and policies that encourage work and investment instead of just managing decline.
When government stays captured by career insiders focused on protecting the system and their own positions, you more often get stagnation, rising costs passed down to citizens, and a sense that the deck is stacked against regular people trying to get ahead.
We don’t need to turn government into a corporation. We need leaders who ask the tough, rational questions business demands every day: “Is this the best use of limited resources? How does this create real value for the people paying the bills? What’s the impact on the next generation?”
The Bottom Line for Voters — Especially Those Feeling the Squeeze
Topeka’s future depends on getting this right. If we want a community where families can afford to live, where young people see real opportunity to stay and build lives, and where basic services stay reliable without constantly eating more of people’s paychecks, we need to prioritize proven competence and results over comfort, familiarity, or personal connections.
If you’re one of the folks feeling the pinch — stretching to pay that water bill, watching costs creep up — your vote carries extra weight. Don’t default to the friend or the familiar face. Look at who actually has the experience that translates to running government more effectively: balancing real trade-offs, focusing on outcomes, and bringing a growth mindset instead of protecting the status quo.
New blood with genuine business experience isn’t a magic wand, but it’s one of the most reliable ways to inject rationality, accountability, and practical problem-solving into a system that too often rewards staying the course.
I’ve spent decades in real estate, development, and brokerage here in Kansas and across the country. I’ve seen up close how government decisions ripple through real projects and real families. That’s why this matters to me. We can do better — for the people struggling today and for the Topeka we want to leave our kids and grandkids.
What’s your experience? Have rising costs or local decisions hit your household hard? Drop a comment and let’s keep talking about practical ways to build a stronger, more affordable Topeka.
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