Civil Servants or Servile Subjects

   Americans who take jobs in government are known as civil servants. They are not servile subjects of whoever sits in the Oval Office.
   Yet that seems to be what the current president demands -- absolute loyalty to Himself, and those who are not sufficiently servile are soon fired.
   A consequence of such an attitude is that many people -- highly qualified, with principles to match -- will not take jobs with this chief executive even if they were asked.
   That's a likely reason why so many key positions, including ambassadorships to important U.S. allies, have not been filled. In addition, there are hundreds of other federal job openings still available, but many candidates have not even been nominated, much less confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
   Why? Here are two possible reasons: The presdent has not gotten around to asking people to take the jobs, or those he has asked have refused.
   There's plenty of evidence to suggest that the new guy expects loyalty to the point of servility, even from journalists.
   It's possible to fire civil servants he has appointed when he deems them not sufficiently servile, but word quickly spreads and many decide they cannot work for someone like that.
   As for expecting unquestioning personal loyalty from journalists ...  Ain't gonna happen.
   Journalists ask tough questions because they need to be asked.