Yesterday, House Republicans came up with a novel idea to fund only the parts of the government that people would notice – things like the Veterans Administration and national parks – in an attempt to point the latest in a series of fingers at the opposition for their cruelty in ignoring important priorities. Democrats thundered back that such piecemeal efforts are “not serious” and “no way to fund a government.”
But that is exactly how one part of the government was funded just before the September 30 deadline. Without fanfare on Monday night, President Obama signed the “Pay Our Military Act,” ensuring paychecks throughout the government shutdown for all members of the armed forces, including active-duty reserve members, along with civilian personnel and contractors who happen to “provide support” to armed forces operations.
How can I put this delicately? This is wrong.
It’s a slap in the face to 800,000 federal workers, who do not deserve unfair treatment because their uniform is a different color, and their service to the country in a different form, than members of the military. The words of Senator Ted Cruz – “the soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines who risk their lives for this nation should not have their paychecks held hostage to any government shutdown in Washington” – apply to every member of the federal government, and singling out service members for hero worship is as pernicious for our foreign policy as it is for our budget debate.
To pre-empt the inevitable “why do you hate our troops” criticisms, the question is not whether men and women dodging bullets overseas or defending America’s shores and skies deserve to have to work without pay for as long as Congress denies a government funding resolution. The question is whether everyone else who serves the public does.
Some federal employees are more equal than others
The lunatics on the Right—–the Fascists—–love their military. After all the military is a very handy thing to have on your side. Just ask the Egyptians now living under a military dictatorship. It was the Egyptian military who drove the nasty Muslim Brotherhood out of power and underground. It will be the general who led that military coup who will now run for president, win, and usher in another 30 years of military rule in Egypt. American Fascists—-the American Right—-really, really like stop and frisk laws, the Patriot Act, a militarized local police force, locking down entire cities like Boston, the NSA, cameras on every corner, and all things military. So the politicians don’t want to piss them off by holding up their pay checks. If they do the military might just find some way to make their lives miserable.
Can I get an Amen!
Of course it’s a slap in the face to the 800,000 non-military federal workers. That’s because those people do not engage in the practice of ensuring that the few rule the many.
Consequently, they are easily dispensable.