Public Servants.....Where are They?

Our founding fathers gave their lives and their fortunes for this country. Would they "roll over in their graves" at what is going on today? They established public office as a servant to the people. Today's politicians see themselves as kings and the people as their servants to do their bidding according to vote. Their votes for their future benefit to secure their holdings while in office.
Our so called "public servants" make more than five times that of the average American taxpayer who pays their salaries, and that’s before we talk about the millions they rake in under the table, or their lofty retirement and medical benefits or unlimited expense accounts.

The lavish vacations and international family jet-setting demonstrated by the current party of the little people is just plain over the top!

The term "public service" used to mean something special" and that people who entered public life were given some measure of respect. it seems the more patriotic a person claims to be, the more they well espouse that the best government is no government at all.

"Calling for an end to the denigration of public service doesn’t mean we can’t criticize public officials or our government. It is our duty as Americans to hold our leaders accountable for their actions and their positions. But we don’t need to tear down or belittle the role of public service because we don’t like the views of the person holding office"

Our “founding fathers” (Washington, Jefferson, Adams) never expected that politics would become a vocation. They saw political service as the duty of gentlemen owed to their country. It was an honor bestowed to be allowed to represent the people in protecting them and in furthering the best interests of the country or state. Unfortunately, politics has become a vocation and politicians have strayed from representing the people to efforts at garnering power.

But occasionally, an elected official acts against self-interest, that is to say takes a position or casts a vote that is not popular and that jeopardizes re-election. That man or woman doesn’t fit the politician stereotype. Such behavior is rare enough and surprising enough that we describe it as a profile in courage. By an act against self-interest, or by voluntary retirement from office, not defeat, or by simply taking the long-term national interest into account, an elected official may suddenly become a public servant. That seems to be the key: what is in the nation’s interest, not what is in the interest of my political career. There are public servants at all levels of our politics. They sometimes seem rare enough to be almost extinct. But we look for them at election time and we often vote for a new face in the hope that individual will turn out to be a public servant not a careerist politician.

Take a good look at this debate debate that's going on in Washington D.C. Instead of putting the interest of the U.S.A. first, politicians on both sides of the isles are more worried about getting their asses re-elected or avoiding primary challenges from their own party. Republicans, especially because the influential & dominant Tea Party have their number & are scared of what would happen if they stray, just a hair from their hardcore conservative base.

The qualities of public servants, judgment, wisdom, and the long view, are so rare as to seem almost non-existent these days. Public Servants are there, but they seem not to want to penetrate the political thicket necessary to serve. We better start finding some and clearing some of that thicket soon.