On Monday, U.S. Rep. Matthew Gaetz introduced a motion to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. That motion is the result of McCarthy’s decision to work across the aisle in order to avoid a shutdown of our government. In a statement made by Gaetz to reporters, he said that regardless of whether his motion succeeds or fails, the result will be acceptable to him because “the American people deserve to know who governs them.”

It may seem a small point, but I found the latter phrase to be both jarring and revealing.

In my 35 years of public service, it was my understanding that the phrase “public service” meant exactly that – regardless of whether any position I held gave me any kind of authority, I worked for the public. All of my public service responsibilities called upon me, in one way or another, to identify problems, find solutions to those problems, and implement those solutions. I have always believed that those who are elected to Congress have those same responsibilities.

I found Gaetz’s statement jarring because it reflects a misunderstanding of what it means to be an elected official, and it reflects a misunderstanding of what it means to be in public service.

Three days of fighting in July 1863 cost the lives of over three thousand Union soldiers. In November of that year, President Abraham Lincoln closed his Gettysburg address with the following statement: “(W)e here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The American people have disparate views of the problems that face us, and disparate views as to how those problems should be solved. We elect leaders in the hope that those whom we choose will not only reflect our own views, but also that they will recognize that no single elected official has the unique ability to identify and solve every problem.

Rather, it is the hope of most people that elected officials will listen to each other, learn from each other, compromise where appropriate, and implement the most efficacious solutions to the challenges that face us. The notion that one elected official should automatically reject the views of another elected official solely on the basis of political affiliation is a guarantee that compromise will not happen and that paralysis will be the inevitable result.

You do not govern the American people, Mr. Gaetz, nor does any other elected official. You are supposed to work for the American people. On Sept. 30, 2003, a bipartisan agreement kept our government functioning.

To see a bipartisan agreement as some kind of failure is to make clear that you, Mr. Gaetz, do not understand what it means to be a public servant, you do not understand your obligation to the American people, and you exemplify the reason why, instead of governing, so many elected officials have failed in their responsibilities.

Your choice of words reveals why, instead of governing, you are one of many elected officials who are hopelessly lurching from one crisis to another. President Lincoln effectively reminded us that the men who died at Gettysburg will have done so in vain, and our form of government will “perish from the earth” if our elected officials do not possess the fundamental understanding of democratic government.

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