The public should stop "trashing" the government and should instead work to bring about change in the system, Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker said in a speech at the Kennedy School of Government last night.

Weicker, a lifelong politician who has earned a reputation as a maverick, said citizens should realize that public officials reflect the character of the people, even in their faults.

"When 'all politicians are crooks, etc.' is shown to be personally applicable, we laugh because we know we're not all crooks," he said.

Weicker challenged critics of American democracy to do more than complain, saying "their senseless destruction of politics in America...has managed to paralyze government and decimate the ranks of those willing to serve."

He urged members of the public to participate in the political process by voting and working for change.

If they do not, he said, "What we will be left with is a neutered automatic-pilot structured for amusement rather than problem solving."

Weicker, who was elected as an Independent in 1990, offered his experience as governor as an example of what the U.S. should do.

"There is a lesson for the nation in what Connecticut has accomplished," Weicker told an audience of about 50 people.

When Weicker took office, the state faced a $2.4 billion deficit. He said he instituted spending cuts and a personal income tax to provide "fairness and stability."

The response to his budget reform was "violent in the extreme," Weicker said. "I was hung in effigy, spat upon...compared to Saddam Hussein."

Despite the criticism, Weicker said Connecticut has "returned from the abyss" with a stable stream of revenue and expanding businesses.

Weicker said his idealistic attitude of "shaping our own destiny" would benefit politicians on the national front as well.

For example, government should "bring down" the price of health care by investing in research and preventive health care instead of simply paying current costs.

The government should also reduce spending on foreign aid, he said. Although furthering democracy in other countries is "a worthy cause," Weicker said, "The money isn't there."

"The days of the free lunch are over," said Weicker. Government should focus on fiscal rather than political solutions and on accountability rather than re-electability, he said.

The responsibility for the nation's future, Weicker said, lies with both the federal government and the people.