The Preferred Definition Of Public Servant

What visual images cas­cade through your mind when you think of a pub­lic ser­vant? Is it a fire­man dash­ing into a burn­ing build­ing to save a help­less child? Or is it a police offi­cer pro­tect­ing us from some ruth­less crim­i­nal? How about a sol­dier risk­ing it all in sac­ri­fice of one for the free­dom of many?

In pon­der­ing that, were our elected offi­cials scarce to your thoughts?

Webster’s defines “Pub­lic Ser­vant” as a per­son hold­ing a gov­ern­ment office or job by elec­tion or appoint­ment. Civil ser­vice is fur­ther defined as branches of pub­lic ser­vice, con­cerned with gov­ern­men­tal admin­is­tra­tive func­tion; a body of per­sons employed in those branches. (Hmmm … that seems like such a cold def­i­n­i­tion for what a pub­lic ser­vant should be, so wrong)

Does the thought of our elected offi­cials cradling a com­pas­sion for decency, virtue, or a stead­fast­ness for what’s upright and moral seem like a fan­tasy to you? Well … you’re not alone. The land­scape of Amer­ica is lit­tered with poor souls crav­ing such things from those who hold a cher­ished office.

To be sent to Wash­ing­ton by your peers isn’t like some movie any­more. Jimmy Stew­art was an actor, play­ing Mr. Smith, but many in DC aren’t just per­form­ing with a the­atri­cal script. A com­men­ta­tor recently claimed they’re wor­ship­ing “A Gospel of Wealth.”

That’s not to say there are those in the Cap­i­tal who have a pas­sion for the very fab­ric of what makes the United States such a great land. But then there are those hold­ing office who don’t have much in the way of moral dig­nity. Those indi­vid­u­als hold the power of self in such high regard they’ve sac­ri­ficed their esteem.

Gov­ern­ment should be fash­ioned toward what’s utterly hon­est and open, unin­tru­sive, right and true, yet that’s a utopia one may never see but can only hope for.

Some­one once said: “Absolute power can absolutely cor­rupt.” That brings me to the thought of what a leader really can be. One can be a trust­wor­thy king, one loved by the peo­ple, or a pres­i­dent, high-ranking offi­cial, who real­izes they’ve been given such a sacred stake in life they don’t dare tar­nish it. But with power evil whis­pers can taint one’s thoughts and with it all else.

When does one cross the line to sac­ri­fice it all for the love of money and the power it so delu­sion­ally holds?

Last year the North Korean leader Kim Jong ll, a dic­ta­tor, died. He had a rep­u­ta­tion for being undis­ci­plined and impul­sive, a hard par­ty­ing wom­an­izer and lover of gourmet food, Cuban cig­ars, Cognac, and fast cars.

When Kim Jong ll was ele­vated to power in the 1980s a piece appeared in the State news­pa­per which said: “Peo­ple of the world, if you’re look­ing for mir­a­cles come to Korea.” The pre-Christmas edi­to­r­ial added ”Chris­tians, don’t go to Jerusalem. Come rather to Korea. Don’t believe in God. Believe in a great man.”

Yet, the aver­age North Korean earns but a dol­lar a day and in the mid-to-late 1990’s nearly 2 mil­lion died from famine.

Kim Jong ll could have been an admirable leader, but the choices made by a man or woman, no mat­ter their stay in life, are a steady­ing mast of dis­tinc­tion oth­ers will despise or admire — what does one gain to have the world yet lose a soul?

The Oba­mas haven’t evaded scrutiny either when it comes to liv­ing a lav­ish lifestyle on the other guy’s dime. Last month they spent some $4 mil­lion on a Hawai­ian vaca­tion. That was just one of many vaca­tions they’ve taken in the last three years. The President’s golf trips alone are approach­ing some one hun­dred since he’s been in office. It’s been noted Mrs. Obama has a taste for expen­sive clothes and jew­elry as well. The dol­lar amount incurred by tax­pay­ers for the first family’s plea­sures is staggering.

When most Amer­i­cans are hurt­ing and hold out lit­tle hope for a bright tomor­row, with over 2 mil­lion jobs lost, unem­ploy­ment unac­cept­ably high, home fore­clo­sures at an all-time high, record food stamp usage and so much more, the peer­ing eyes of the pub­lic are upon their pub­lic servants.

Keep in mind politi­cians are sup­posed to be pub­lic ser­vants, not task mas­ters. Accord­ing to the Con­sti­tu­tion, the con­stituency of the land are the head and not the tail — it’s our inalien­able right, endowed by the Cre­ator, to weed out those who unscrupu­lously toss the val­ues of being Amer­i­can so reck­lessly aside.

A dose of those with a servant’s heart is what the coun­try oh so des­per­ately longs for.

Greg Allen’s col­umn, Thinkin’ Out Loud, is pub­lished bi-monthly. He’s an author, syn­di­cated colum­nist and the founder of Builder of the Spirit in Jamestown, Indi­ana, a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion aid­ing the poor. He can be reached at 765–676-5014 or www.builderofthespirit.org.

© Greg Allen ~ All Rights Reserved

Posted by Guest 1 Columnist on Jan 27 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.