My chat with Bing chat about “public service”

The GPT-4 AI engine within Bing chat offers a useful way to “survey” commonly-held public beliefs and perspectives that have been documented on the web. Today I investigate the term “public servant”.

Bing chat says…

The term “public servant” was first used in 1671. It refers to a person who works for the government and whose job is to serve the public. The term “servant” comes from the Old French word “sergent,” which means “domestic servant, valet; court official; soldier.”

Pompt: Is a public servant a law enforcer?

Law is the body of rules that are enacted by the legislative branch, which is comprised of the House of Representatives and Senate in some countries. Law can also be called act or statute, and it contains broad legal requirements. Regulation is the process of monitoring and enforcing the rules, and it is created by the executive branch, which includes most federal agencies. Regulation is often introduced to help in the implementation of law, and it does not have to go through the same bill process as law. Regulation only affects those who deal directly with the agency that is enforcing it, while law governs everyone equally.

A law enforcement officer is a government employee appointed to enforce the law, such as a police officer or sheriff. They are responsible for the prevention, investigation, apprehension, or detention of individuals suspected or convicted of offenses against the criminal laws. .

The myth of the “public servant”.

All domains of government authority are derived from and defined by laws. You will find all of Ontario’s provincial statutes at it's e-Laws website linked below.

Take Education for example. The Education Act is the source of authorization that allows the Government Of Ontario to exert exclusive rights regarding the funding, methods, policies and subject matter content used to “school” the public. All workers in that sector are considered “public servants” by virtue of the tax-funding nature of their jobs and workplace, While taxpayers are told that public Education is a free “public service”, I dare anyone to try to set up a competing service without being held to compliance with the Education Act.

What about other professions and workers in the economy? Are they “public servants” too? If so, on what basis? Let’s consider this question through legal lens provided by the site where Ontario publishes its laws: e-Laws website.

First, I offer a word of caution. I trust that all of my readers are spending hours every day studying the law because…

Ignorance of the law by a person committing an offence is no excuse or legal defence for committing that offence. http://www.criminal-code.ca/criminal-code-of-canada-section-19-ignorance-of-the-law/index.html

It didn’t take long to peruse the e-Laws site before I realized that there is no such thing as a government employed “public servant”. They are all “law enforcers” because their duties are directed at fulfilling all of the statutes within e-Laws.

Lawyers and judges enforce laws according to policies and procedures codified as regulations which pertain to criminal offenders and their punishment.

Accountants and auditors enforce laws according to policies and procedures codified as regulations which pertain to taxation.

Public school teachers, principals and professors enforce laws according to policies and procedures codified as regulations which pertain to education-related government monopolies.

Police officers enforce laws according to policies and procedures codified as regulations which pertain to law-breakers.

Strictly speaking, it is difficult to difficult to accept the idea that any government employee is a “public servant” when the authority to define their duties and receive their work compensation comes from tax laws and labour legislations. Considering also that laws empower public sector labour unions to hold the public hostage from time to time by withholding “public services” for self-serving purposes. There is nothing “public service” about that!

A public “good” or a legal “duty to enforce”.

If the enforcement of a compendium of laws is considered by some citizens as a “public good”, then the term “public servant” may be acceptable to them. However, if others believe that our governments have far exceeded the scope of service for the “public good” and now impose a form of “public tax and regulation slavery”, then the term “public jailor” may be more apt. Of course, some may consider this term too harsh until they see the Tax Freedom Day report for The Fraser Institute.

If ignorance of the law is no excuse or defence for breaking it, does ignorance of the coercive nature of government employment provide an excuse for government workers to lobby (via unions) for more entitlements at the expense of their fellow Canadians?

Not black or white.

Of course, few things these days are “black and white”. Shades of gray abound in the perceptions and opinions that people have about the government workforce.  “Service”, for example, is what I receive from the cook and waitress who prepare and serve me a meal at a restaurant. This to be is a tangible and unambiguous example of “public service” which I experience first hand. The same goes for members of the retail staff at my local Home Hardware who order and stock the shelves with products that I can purchase at a competing price and at my sole discretion. I have never felt the same sense of “customer service” when engaging with tax collectors and Service Ontario clerks who issues licences, permits and certificates.

Mass Formation Psychosis?

My thinking has been greatly influenced by the brilliant book “Psychology of Totalitarianism” by Dr. Mattias Desmet who explained the behaviour of the masses during the recent pandemic in terms of a form of mass hypnosis. This was perpetuated by repeated fear-inducing public and media messaging during the public health crisis which greatly shaped attitudes and behaviours of millions.

The term “public servant” has been repeatedly applied to goverment workers for so long that no one has stopped to ask it is genuinely warranted. What’s more, the term has also carried the notion that public service is admirable work to be held to a higher level of respect than the aforementioned restaurant and retail workers, and thousands of other roles that people carry out in the non-government sectors of the economy.

Has the term “public servant” remained in our vernacular because it has been applied to government workers so often over time that the repetition has cemented it so deeply into the public psyche that it had be never questioned as legitimate? Have we been “hypnotized” by this repetition and asleep to the reality?

Respect and Fairness

It is time to level the playing field. Let’s remove the pedestal of privilege from beneath all government work and acknowledge that the work of all Canadians who earn an honest day’s wage in the non-government sectors is deserving of our respect.