Let me just say from the start that I don’t like to see anyone lose their job, at least as a concept. It sucks, and anyone who ever has, for any reason, knows it. That being said, when it comes to the federal government, that feeling lasts about 2 seconds, then it’s gone. There are far too many federal employees doing far too many things the government has no business doing, and a lot of them suck at their jobs on top of it all. None of that would ever fly in the private sector, so welcome to reality, “civil servants.”
The very name “civil servant” (and that’s the last time I’ll put it in scare quotes) implies they are servants of we, the people. Anyone who has ever dealt with a federal agency knows better; knowing the government employee on the other end of the phone or the other side of the counter can make you feel like they’re doing you a favor by doing their jobs or you owe them. That is, of course, provided you can get someone on the phone or an appointment with anyone in the first place.
Why “hate” on civil servants? Aside from the obvious, I saw this headline in Politico, “‘I am terrified’: Workers describe the dark mood inside federal agencies.”
The story opens, “President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting the federal workforce have injected a fresh wave of anxiety among employees across the bureaucracy — stoking fears the president is coming for their jobs.”
What are these orders? That they show up to work.
You wouldn’t know it because you weren’t given that luxury, but a big percentage of the federal workforce works remotely because of COVID. Yes, you read that right, COVID. Not because these remote workers have conditions that make them particularly susceptible to severe consequences of COVID, but because of the panic at the start of it that never went away in government policy.
What are these workers doing about not wanting to come back into the office? “Just a few days into Trump’s second term, some federal workers are contemplating quitting. Others are preparing to file grievances with their unions or moving communications with each other to secure platforms like Signal. Some, fearing they’ll be caught up in the White House’s purge of diversity programs, are leaving their names off of memos and documents they worry could be labeled as DEI-adjacent.”
Worthless employees who are “non-essential” know who they are, and they are the ones who are afraid. They are the ones who should be afraid.
That said, I oppose returning them to the office. If the absolutely necessary employees can do their jobs remotely, that's excellent. Instead, shut down the physical office, sell the buildings, or end the leases and take the savings. That’s a win-win for everyone.
Anyone else, those people who aren’t essential, who suck at their jobs, or are terrified at the prospect of accountability…fire them.
One State Department employee told Politico, “I would love to leave, but I don’t know where I’d go, and I am terrified of not being able to pay rent and not having healthcare.” Has your private sector job ever considered the impact of losing your job, either through being fired or the company going under, on their decision to keep you on the payroll? I’d bet not.
It’s hard to have sympathy for people with a pension when, thanks in part to bad government policies, the idea of a pension is a foreign concept in the private sector now. It reminds me of this great political cartoon where a federal worker is at a bar worrying that “They’re trying to cut our pensions,” and the private sector worker responds, “What’s a pension?”
The only thing I don’t want to see more than someone losing their job is someone keeping a job that is unnecessary and costing taxpayers a fortune simply because people don’t want to cost anyone their job. Any company run that way would go out of business; any country run that way will…well, incur $37 trillion in debt with almost no way to ever pay it off. If a company collapses, people can find other jobs or start their own. When a government does, there is nowhere to hide. If avoiding that reality inconveniences some people, that’s a shame, but it’s also a very small price to pay compared to the alternative.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.
