All my life, I've known people who have worked in the public sector. My mom is a retired public health nurse. My grandmother was a cook for the United States Navy. Two very good friends and a cousin are public school teachers. A family friend is also a teacher and her husband is a Los Angeles police officer. Another cousin is a corrections officer and his wife is a 911 dispatcher. And this is just a partial list.
I have to say, that the current assault on public sector employees and the unions who represent them is nothing less than disgusting and shameful. I take special offense at the horrible treatment and disrespect school teachers have received from certain lawmakers and people in the media. We all know where this contempt comes from. A desire to dismantle the public sector entirely, turn our country over to corporate predators, and turn America into a two-class society. But ordinary Americans shouldn't buy into this garbage.
The protests going on right now in Madison, Wisconsin , against a hateful, right-wing jerk who wants to abolish public employee unions, are so inspiring. This is a movement that needs to spread all across the country.
When I hear other Americans belittle the work that public employees do, and tell lies about what they make, it makes my blood boil. These whiners are the some of the most insolent and ungrateful bunch I've ever heard. Who the hell do they think they are? How DARE ANYONE go around using public services (like roads) and take public benefits (like Medicare), and then turn around and spit at the people who provide such services?!! They must be shamed for having such views.
Public employees make our society run. Public employees make it possible for Americans to live in a pleasant environment. They fill our potholes and fix our roads. They clean our streets and highways. They pick up our garbage and monitor our sewage systems. They rescue us in emergencies. They keep our communities safe. They make sure our food is safe to eat. They prepare our children to become productive citizens. They care for our sick and aged. They make sure the elderly and disabled get their Social Security checks on time. They deliver our mail. Public employees do the work that the private sector can't or won't do.
These people do important work, and they should be well compensated and respected by all Americans. I've got this to say to the teabaggers and other tax-hating fools: IF YOU DON'T WANT TO PAY TAXES, THEN DON'T USE THE SERVICES. You can pack up and leave. Go to your choice of Third World countries where the taxes are low or non-existent. Then, see how you like it. I want you to experience having to walk around a city with open sewers and garbage thrown everywhere because the government isn't paying anyone to clean it up. I want you to be confronted with maimed beggars in the streets who have no safety net to fall back on. I want you to smell the desperation and fear that comes from a population that's so poor because people are paid a couple of dollars a day and worked to death because THERE ARE NO UNIONS. If you like picking on other people in need, then you need to be confronted with the results of your short-sighted and nasty ideology. Citizens in other western democracies don't crap on their public employees like Americans do. French public servant positions are highly sought after. Japanese teachers are revered. The Brits adore their National Health Service. It's high time Americans give our public employees the same honor.
What's most infuriating and tragic is that some of the venom being hurled toward public employees is coming from average Americans who themselves are probably toiling at low-wage, private sector jobs. They're stewing in a sea of jealously - resentful of the kind of benefits and job security public employees receive. Instead of fighting their bosses for the same benefits, they're listening to way too much right-wing B.S. telling them to hate public servants. It's a cynical game of divide and conquer. The ruling elite are playing average Americans for fools. And ordinary American workers in the private sector should know better than to treat their fellow workers in the public sector with such disdain. They should be joining with public workers in a fight against the real people who stole our prosperity: the rich plutocrats and their Republican and ConservaDem lackeys in the state houses and in Congress.