Having lived a life of self-employment, I have enjoyed the fruits of my labors and endured the pain accompanying any climb to success. I can say, too, that probably the most painful experience in all life is to be shaken hard by real surprise.

I’m talking about the sort that borders on shock, the kind that springs off the printed page and strikes you with such force that it takes your breath away. I’m talking about the sort of news that leaves you dumbfounded, slack-jawed.

Sadly, all too often nowadays these surprises involve our public servants, whether local, state or federal.

Public trust is given to those in public service. When that trust is abused, punishment and expulsion should be among the consequences. The alleged misdeeds of U.S. Reps. Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters would seem to rate such punishment. Worse yet may be in store for some small-town officials in California who sought to pay themselves like corporate CEOs.

I know successful small-business owners who don’t make what the leaders in Bell, Calif., paid themselves. Imagine the part-time mayor of a town of 36,000 paying himself $100,000 a year. Or a city manager there making $787,000 a year.

The latest surprise hit me like the proverbial two-by-four: Congress and its staffers don’t have to comply with insider trading laws. That’s right — the oldest form of larceny on Wall Street has free rein among the very people with the most inside information.

Example after example is given in a Wall Street Journal report last week exposing the reality of an out-of-control Congress thumbing its nose at the electorate and claiming “Me No Alamo” when exposed.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 3,000 disclosure forms covering trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers showed that 72 aides traded shares of companies that their bosses help oversee. And who knows what information some quietly relayed to friends, uncles and neighbors?

Companies involved included Bank of America before government stress tests eased investor concern over the health of banking; Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae just days before the government authorized emergency funding; Citigroup on announcement of exchanging common stock for preferred shares.

As government becomes more and more involved in the affairs of business, rampant disregard for honesty has exploded.

The idea that Congress and its staffers are immune from insider trading laws and have no restrictions on stock holdings and ownership interest in companies they oversee can’t help but outrage voters, even among those who truly see value and relevance in the present size of government and its involvement in the very business of business.

Lawmakers and their staffs don’t have ethics rules or guidelines preventing this abuse. More incredible, the House Financial Services Committee can’t seem to conclude that practices such as this should be abolished. A few legislators such as Brian Baird, a Washington state Democrat, have proposed bills to prevent members and employees of Congress from trading securities based on non-public information they receive, but to no avail.

When Rep. Baird proposed such a bill nearly five years ago, he could find only 14 colleagues to endorse it. A current bill garnered even less support.

Even before these revelations, polls showed public faith in Congress has plummeted to an all-time low of 13 percent. It seems the more we learn of the inner workings of Washington, the more disdainful we become. What stunning lack of character and integrity will we learn next?

If all of us in America were looked upon with such scorn in our respective professions and received approval ratings of only 13 percent, I believe we’d either set out to change the perception or change professions.

Face it. Dog-fighting organizations or cock-fighting associations would garner a higher rating than Congress. And if Congress ever does garner higher ratings — well, that would be a real surprise. It might even take my breath away.

Clifton Robinson is chairman of Robinson Media, which owns the Waco Tribune-Herald .