Ever since Obama gave his State of the Union address, I have written about “public service”: because Obama promised a special break for those who go into, not the private sector, but “public service.” Viewed with some broadness, public service can mean: opening a store, coming up with a useful invention, employing people, and so on.

I have received a great deal of mail on this subject, and publish a letter in Impromptus today. I’d like to offer one more here on the Corner:

Way back in the ’70s, Ralph Nader gave a speech to students at my university in which he urged us not to go to work in corporate America after graduation because doing so would serve only to “make AT&T a little bit bigger.” Instead, he challenged us to do something “more meaningful” with our lives.
I was all ready to sign up for the Peace Corps when it occurred to me that AT&T employees were doing more than just making their company a bit bigger. They were enriching lives by enabling loved ones to talk to one another. They were creating wealth by providing a fast and inexpensive way to transmit information. They were saving lives by enabling people to call fire departments and hospitals.
It then occurred to me that if all of AT&T’s employees were marooned on a desert island, people throughout the world would be hurt. On the other hand, if all of the world’s consumer advocates were marooned . . .

Perhaps fittingly, this letter comes from Humble, Texas. (Hey, don’t those two names cancel each other out: Humble and Texas?)

One more word: Above, I wrote “private sector” — and that makes the non-governmental world seem a little too small, doesn’t it? I mean, everything that is not government in America is a mere “sector”? I’m reminded of the time, years ago, when gay-rights advocates, and those who discussed gay-related issues, began talking about “the straight community”: as in “the gay community” and “the straight community.” As though non-gays were confined to a particular neighborhood or something! Maybe had their own rec center? Held an ice-cream social every June?