Only a person who has never had to wait hours in line for the cheerful folks at the DMV, the Tax Office, or the Zoning Department (or, the TSA -ed.) would say something this clueless.
Criticizing public employees is my First Amendment Right. And government taking from my prosperity in order to pay for theirs is not their Right.
2 comments:
No one, I hope, would deny your right to criticize whomever you choose to. However, denigrating others, though it be your right, often is not constructive or fair.
For instance, I've had to wait in line lots, but it's not the fault of the employees there, but bue to the fact that the number hired and assigned was low, so that there were backlogs.
I think public salaries and benefits are somewhat too high in many cases; but not in every case.
As to the idea that no one could agree with Pres. Obama on not denigrating, a recent NYT/CBS poll showed that most Americans did not favor cutting public employees salaries or benefits to solve state deficit problems; most preferred other solutions, including raising taxes. I'm not agreeing (nor disagreeing) with that view; simply saying that a mild, non-derogatory view of public employees -- which is all Mr. Obama spoke up for -- is in fact quite common among Americans, on the data I read.
N.T.E.
N.T.E:
I find it the height of hubris that you call for a more civil discourse. As a Tea Partier, I have been denigrated with epithets like racist, bigot, terrorist, dumb, stupid, paranoid, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Because I do not support the policies of the current administration, all sorts of assumptions and stereotypes are applied to me, and those like me. If that is OK for your side to do to me, why is it somehow out-of-bounds when done to your side? Look at how the unions in Wisconsin have treated those in government who were duly elected, and those who support them.
I, too, know many dedicated public employees. We have rather a few in our local Tea Party. But I know just as many people who are in government employ because they couldn't survive in the real world, and carry that failure round as a huge chip on their shoulder.
There are indeed polls that show some people support raising taxes. But when asked if they are willing to have THEIR taxes raised, well, the story changes. People want something for nothing, and when our modern society (via the 60's generation) reinforces the notion that a want denied is a Right denied, it is not hard to understand why you think the way you do.
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