Where do i say anything about hating you? You seem to be a upstanding person who works and pays taxes. You dont claim to suck off the state but pay your way in life.
I'm a state worker, doesn't that make the bolded part null and void? It does for some on here... hell, just yesterday I was called a "tic on the ass of society", by one of our more extremist righties(can't remember which one).
The problem with state workers is that they are paid from taxes, therefore, no matter how valuable the job you provide, your job is - technically - a drain on the public finances. Now, don't get me wrong... I am not saying that is a bad thing but - from a purely financial standpoint, the taxes you pay do not add up to the amount of money that you cost the taxpayer.
This is just simple economics. You understand that right?
Now... if your job is one that is necessary to the function of society, fine. That's a price worth paying.... however, there are many state workers that, frankly, are not of real importance to that function. Those are the ones that many people may feel less enthusiastic about.
Speaking from people who absolutely hate government? I'll take that with a grain of salt. Like I said to the person the other day. I work with the Developmentally Disabled. I am a Direct Care worker(Aide).
The people that I am currently working with are in a Living Area of Sexually active people, of whom 1/2 of them are sexual predators. The other half are people with a history of seeking out sex from other folk that live there, but aren't "predatory". We lump them together in a very structured environment and watch them like hawks. Because of their level of retardation(IQ's of between 40-60), they are not legally competent to give consent for sex, so any sexual contact is considered rape, legally speaking.
I said to the person the other day... when should I drop them off at your house? So, I'll ask you the same. Do you think those folk should be in a group home next to your house, near your kids? Near anyone's kids? 1/3 of the people in my living area were already out in the community in Privately run group homes....they came back to the Center I work at, because their minimum wage Aide staff either couldn't do the job we do, or they didn't give a shit if they lost that minimum wage job. So those people that came back not only weren't being taken care of properly, now they have a criminal record on top of it. That's right, Parents don't take kindly to their kids being sexually harassed, or in one case... molested.
You see, the problem with righties is that you really don't have much of a clue what goes on in my field, in the prison system, in Law Enforcement, hell even on the highways. You only seem to know what the right wing pundits tell you. For instance, did you know that in PA, more highway workers have been killed than in Law Enforcement? Think about that the next time you drive by a Construction site that takes 5-10 seconds to pass and make the blanket statement that "all they do is lean on their shovels".
I work for the PA Department of Public Welfare. The people I work with are not deadbeats who can work, but don't. They are totally incapable of working at anything beyond the simplest of tasks. They have emotional and psychological problems that you can't begin to grasp. They are on SSA, Medicaid, and State welfare for a reason. The state takes most of that back in the form of Care and Maintenance(room and board), and gives them an allowances for Clothing, personal items and community trips.
So, let's say we cut welfare to the bone. Who do you think the politicians are going to cut? The deadbeats who can and do vote, or people like I work with who can easily be dismissed? It's happened before. Reagan did it in the 1980's with Mental Health.... then a few years later, homelessness became a huge issue in our cities. Sure... the idea is to get the deadbeats to work... I understand that, and you will probably achieve your results. But you will also be destroying the lives of many more people who cannot work and are helpless. Throwing the baby out with the bath water may seem like a good idea... but only to people who aren't thinking things through.
That's just the people I work with. That's not mentioning the workers who provide services to our most vulnerable. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say that it's all about them and I don't care what happens to me and my wife(we both work there). We've both invested 23 years in the service of the Commonwealth, we have 12 years to go before we reach the 35 required to retire. I will be 60, she'll be 62.
You guys don't seem to understand that there are good, hard working people's livelihoods at stake here. Look, I'm sorry that the private sector fucked the American Worker over, but that's not the Public Workers' fault. The thing that amazes and astounds me is that, rather than fight to bring the jobs and wages back to this country, Conservatives would rather **** MORE people over and put them in the unemployment line as well.
When I mention things like downsizing by attrition(not replacing people when they retire), mostly all I get is sneers.
Speaking of retirement, I see a lot of people on the right talking about how Public Service Employees get to retire young and make so much money. But here in PA anyway... that's not the case. My wife and I will be 62 and 60(respectively) when we get our 35 years of service in and can retire. We don't see 100% of our working salary, like I hear from the right... we see about half. We've also paid into our retirement system at the rate or 6.3% of our gross pay since we've started there... the state matches it... so that takes care of the "public sector workers don't help pay for their retirement" thing.
Granted.. PA is just one state, but I see a lot of misinformation and false assumptions floating about that in my case, just isn't true.
