ABSTRACT
The most destructive effect of "privatization" has been the devaluation of public service to just another arena in which one can achieve essentially private ambitions. "Careerism" has been substituted for idealism. Careerism, rooted in an egoistic, utilitarian philosophy, is considered to be the primary inducement in almost all American management theory. The ideal of American democracy assumes that a special relationship should exist between public servants and citizens. For them, the success of the governmental system was dependent upon the prior acceptance, by both the public servants and the citizens, of the truth of the regime values. Therefore, public servants must inculcate the patriotism of benevolence. Idealistic this charge may be, but we are bound, by the covenants of our inception, to both idealism and practicality. It is within the patriotism of benevolence that the ideal and the practical are fused.
