With events local and not so local as a backdrop, I read with interest yesterday’s Lexington Dispatch editorial reminding us that government employees are real people, too:
When legislators face large budget deficits, such as the situation in North Carolina, government employees become an easy target for job reductions. Oftentimes you can hear the sneer in the voices of those who believe government is too large when they refer to government employees: bureaucrats. This conjures up images of mean-spirited paper pushers who live to make life more difficult for the average citizen.
…While reducing the number of state employees may seem like a good way to achieve the savings, any large-scale reduction would have a major ripple effect. Those workers are employed, just not in the private sector. The state’s unemployment rate would rise with a widespread layoff of government workers. Those unemployed state workers would then reduce spending in other areas, which would harm an economy that continues to seek traction after the Great Recession. Social service agencies could see an uptick in needs.
Rather than think of government employees as a faceless blob of people, consider them as individuals. They may be the person with whom you attend church, the parent you sit with at your children’s sporting events, the neighbor down the street or a member of the same civic club.
As someone who’s lost his job in the past (I was in the newspaper biz, remember?) I certainly don’t wish it on anyone, public or private sector. And believe me, I wish like hell our country hadn’t come to this point, but those who saw it coming and advocated for limited government were either ignored or worse —- portrayed as mean-spirited whack jobs who want to starve helpless little children.
Now there is no more money, plain and simple. It’s the reality all of us have to deal with, one way or another. My fear is it will get worse before it gets better.
