For anyone who might have even the slightest inclination to support even the spirit of Mitty's recent remarks denigrating public employees and the work they do - and they were only his most recent remarks; the Lynch Mob has been making a meal off of "lazy" public workers for years now - should anyone miss how wrong-headed and downright disgusting this kind of crap is, I suggest you read a newspaper or turn on the t.v. or the Internet and check out what is going on in Colorado Springs. A major wildfire is burning its way into the northwest section of the city and even threatening the Air Force Academy and the only people standing in the way trying to stop it are public employees. These firefighters, police, sheriff's deputies, and public safety and health administrators are working round the clock to prevent a natural disaster from practically wiping another American city off the map.
Nor is this the only such disaster this country has had or is likely to have this year and every year. Be it fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, blizzard, or God only knows what else, the first people to respond are public employees. One of the lessons of American history the Lynch Mob is trying to erase is that when disaster strikes, we naturally turn to our government for assistance and that is only as it should be. What marked the passage of the Roman Empire was the inability to protect its towns, cities, and citizens from invaders. What marked in part the progress of this nation was our collective attempts, through our government, to deal with natural and human-caused disaster.
If I sound like I have a personal stake in this, I do. My 87-year-old Mother lives in Colorado Springs and was evacuated from her senior living community last night. The only thing between her and homelessness is the brave men and women who are attempting to end this disaster before it causes more damage.
Perhaps Abraham Lincoln summed up it up best in his second inaugural address:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
No mention of outsourcing or pesky bureaucrats there!
What is happening in Colorado Springs and what will happen elsewhere this year and in years to come is a testament to how we owe our public employees our thanks, not our disrespect, not our criticism. They are US. They are part of what makes us a civilized society. They are essential to the process of binding up our wounds, whether it be the wounds of a single community or the wounds of a nation. So the next time you're tempted to disrespect a public employee or our collective efforts through our governments to deal with a problem, remember Colorado Springs or the last hurricane on the coast or the last major earthquake in a populated area. Take a deep breath, and thank those who helped us survive.
Nobody who fails to understand this belongs in ANY elective office, much less the Presidency.