Public Service

My wife and I took our son with us to the polls yesterday. And this is from some correspondence with a friend that I thought might bear sharing.

I'm thinking a lot about the idea of public service lately. If not for the founding fathers, including one John Hart who sacrified much in the revolution, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hart) we wouldn't be free to have this dialogue. Then something happened to changed the concept of public service to being serviced by the public.

Perhaps the example of Cincinnatus is helpful. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Quinctius_Cincinnatus) Every public servant should return to the farm from time to time until called for. It's hard to quibble about the life-long service of a John Adams. But, he did carry his own bag before that. It's some of the more contemporary public servants, who have never earned a private sector paycheck, and who don't have to live in the environment that they affect, that concern me.

What ever one thinks of their specific policies, I admire Grover Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms far more than Franklin Roosevelt's generation in office, because the American people chose to return him to office after experiencing an alternative.

So perhaps the need is for an over-all balance - A call to serve, and a call back to the farm. Both are important to protect our freedoms from complacency, corruption, and arrogance.

I wonder where the Cincinnati are today?

Best to you, citizens!

Nick