Rene Said:

Why would you pursue a career in public service? Pros? Cons? Motivating factors?

We Answered:

If you really want to help people go into public service. If you see a need, and you know how to help, and you're willing to work hard then go into public service. A good example of s good public servant is Mother Teresa. Another good example is Jimmy Carter AFTER his presidency ended. He made a horrible president but a great humanitarian. Habitat for Humanity was just one of his great ideas.

Unfortunately there are people who go into public service to feed their own narcissistic sense of self importance. That it, people who only try to help because they like the attention they get from the people they work with. They tend to be power hungry self promoters who are ineffective in their efforts. An example of someone going into public service for the wrong reason would be Obama. He was a community organiser in Chicago for 20 years. He mostly spent the time getting his name out so he could run for political office. Once elected to state senate he spent most of his time promoting himself to get elected to the US senate. Once there, he began campaigning for president. Look at his hometown of Chicago - high crime rate and bad schools. What exactly did he do in public service besides promote himself for the next power grab?