I think I can tell you when it became common for people in possitions of authority to abuse it. When they started calling those they serve "civilians", rather than "citizens". I had to laugh in a town road manager's face once when he did that- sorry, the town had one stop light and eight stop signs on it's paved roads. (I was working for a road marking company.) His pompacity was amazing when I yelled at him for going the wrong way on a one way and almost squashing a painting rig. "It's ok, I'm not a civilian."

Still makes me chuckle.

To me, "civilian" is a semi-derogitory term applied to foriegn non-combatants by persons serving actively in a military capacity. If they are Americans, they are "citizens".

But I was raised funny, I think.