What’s in a (Public Building’s) Name?

Acting as an elected representative is often referred to as "public service." But the way some of our politicians act these days, it might as well be called "self-service." Cato’s David Boaz points us to this New York Times article on the narcissistic earmark projects of some of our legislators:

Other “namesake projects” in the bill include the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, named for the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; the Thad Cochran Research Center at the University of Mississippi, named for the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee; and the Thomas Daschle Center for Public Service at South Dakota State University, honoring the former Senate Democratic leader.

The bill also includes “Harkin grants” to build schools and promote healthy lifestyles in Iowa, where Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, is running for re-election.

Boaz follow up with:

But naming monuments for living politicians is a bit too reminiscent of North Korea or Turkmenistan. Perhaps if we’re going to name public works projects for living people, they should all be named for the people who actually pay for those projects–the taxpayers. So we could name them Taxpayers’ Highway, Taxpayers’ Federal Courthouse, Taxpayers Airport.

I like this idea quite a bit, and I think it would tamp down on the petty, but hideously expensive, self-promotion that seems to thrill so many of our legislators. Who wants to be the first to sponsor a law banning public structures from being named after living (or at least currently serving) public officials?