Freudian, perhaps?

DISCLAIMER: While this post primarily picks on a single candidate in the current presidential campaign, I am not making any statements in favor of or against any candidate. This is commentary about the public actions of a public figure, not campaign promotion.

Given enough time, I will do my best to pick on all the candidates to the fullest extent possible.

Senator Hillary Clinton unleashed her Super-Dooper-Mega-Galactic-Mondo-Prima-Ultra-Wonder Tuesday ads upon the defenseless electorate recently and, in doing so, made a stunning admission.

The ad, seen here (at least until the campaign pulls the ad from You-Tube), is the standard run-of-the-mill political bit. About 22 seconds in (for those Hillary haters who can't bear to watch the whole thing, just drag the slider about three quarters of the way across), Hillary describes the various roles she has filled in the American political process.

In her words, she has been "a public servant, an activist, and now, a senator".

Did you cringe?

For those who didn't (or for those aforementioned haters who were too busy cringing about Hillary in general and missed the subtlety), Hillary has just announced that she is no longer a public servant; she is now a senator.

To be fair, Hillary is not the only politician to get confused about the role of government – and, by extension, members of the government – in a democracy. It's a misconception that has plagued politicians for as long as there have been democracies. Lately, however, campaign managers have been savvy enough to a) keep their subjects sufficiently well heeled so as to reduce the risk that the candidate might blurt out their real opinions before the votes are cast, and b) take whatever steps necessary to bury, deflect, diffuse, or distract attention from such gaffes whenever they occur.

(At least until they get into office. At that point, all bets are off. Previous office holders were kind enough to leave behind a process that makes it tremendously hard to lose your office, no matter how incompetent you may prove to be.)

The Clinton campaign put this statement in the closing of an advertisement designed for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Tuesday, the make-or-break day in the presidential primaries. An ad! That they paid for!

The United States of America is a republic. We are a representative democracy. Take special note of that word: "representative".

To borrow from a certain animated ogre, our government is like an onion; it has many layers (and often brings us to tears).

It is comprised of elected officials, appointed officials, and, of course, a whole bunch of government employees. This is just as true at the federal level as it is at the state and local level. It is easy for the average person to consider many government employees as "public servants". Trash collectors, firemen, and police officers, for example, serve the public very visibly. Soldiers serve the public. The Department of Motor Vehicles employees serve the ... well, they are supposed to serve the public.

(And, of course, the IRS serves the public, albeit on a platter.)

It should not be lost on anyone, though, that the "officials" – both appointed and elected – are also public servants. They are representatives of The People, chosen by The People (or the by the people chosen by The People) to manage the government, which itself exists to serve - not to rule - The People.

Unfortunately, the current administration disagrees, as does the party leadership on both sides of the aisle. The Republican and Democratic overlords have demonstrated through their actions in the White House and Congress (and in many governors' mansions, mayor's offices, and state and local legislatures nationwide) that while they certainly serve some people, they don't serve The People. But most of those same politicians at least pay enough lip service to public service during the campaigns to convince the voters that they are, at minimum, the lesser of the two evils on the ballot.

Representatives and senators do have a leadership role within the government, but since the government exists to serve The People, the Capitol Hillbillies' role in America is to flip the switches, turn the knobs, and pull the levers on the largest public service machine in the country. As the CEO of a multi-trillion dollar organization, the President has power. However, as a democratically elected leader (s)he does not own that power. The power comes with the office and the office is owned by The People.

The role of the President is not Public Leader, it is Head Servant. (And the previous president delegated that role to an intern!)

Regrettably, it seems that not only did Senator Clinton's statement make it out of her campaign headquarters unnoticed; it seemingly failed to attract scrutiny from the media and, at the time of this writing, hasn't seemed to cause much of a stir amongst the people. It may be that the public isn't paying much attention or is already suffering from campaign fatigue. Or it may be that people just don't know any better.

One could easily argue that the statement itself is innocuous. It sounds like it was part of a speech, and on the stump politicians often stumble through words. Petty bickering over grammatical technicalities from live public speaking events is futile, for there are too many opportunities for inadvertent slips of the tongue. Those gaffes are legitimate fodder for mockery, not serious debate.

But again, this was an ad … that they paid for.

After careful consideration, after paying for the production process, after getting their choice of words, footage, backdrops, message, etc., these are the words they chose to share with the voters.

I was a public servant, now I am a senator.

Also of interest:

The campaign also released their Spanish language ad Neustra Amiga, which embraces the stereotypical notion that if you are going to advertise to Spanish-speaking viewers, you must deliver your message in the form of a telenovela promo.