When the people&#x27;s wishes result in poisoning children, a good public servant doesn&#x27;t just say &quot;OK&quot; and do it. &quot;Just following orders&quot; isn&#x27;t any better just because those orders come through a democratic process. When it&#x27;s that bad you fight it, you show people the consequences of what they&#x27;re asking for, and if they insist then you either refuse or resign in protest.<p>Edit: it occurs to me that this characterization of &quot;just doing what the people wanted&quot; is probably completely wrong anyway. I&#x27;m sure there was never a public meeting in Flint, for example, where city officials stood up before the public and laid out the plan to switch water supplies and the subsequent poisoning of the entire city that would result.