Public Service

What constitutes public service?

I ask this question because it has been on my mind a lot lately. My firm does a large amount of consulting with the federal government, and the federal employees are often referred to as public servants, but are they really? Many, make that most, federal employees seldom have contact with the American public in the course of their daily work. So are they public servants or performing public service?

They do work in the public sector, but how many of them are there for altruistic "I want to serve the American people" reasons. For that matter, how many of our politicians, House and Senate are there from a true desire to serve. What percentage of the former have a job with the federal government because those jobs have been historically safe and secure? What percentage of the latter crave power?

I know this is sounding cynical, and I don't mean to be cynical, but recently my companies president sold his shares in the company to a management team. He had always wanted to experience working in three areas, academia, private sector, and public sector, and now seemed the time for him to try the public sector. I truly believe that Rick really wants to serve -- and I know that historically that has been a common theme in the United States, but how much has that changed in the last decades.

Is Rick in a minority?