When President-elect Donald Trump said Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would recommend major cuts to the federal government in his administration, many public employees knew that their jobs could be on the line.
Screw them and hold on to your job for as long and as hard as you can.
Sure one person fighting is nothing to a billionaire .... but a few thousand employees taking the government to court for this stupidity will definitely affect the billionaire.
Authoritarianism wins as soon as we all just give up and allow them to take control.
The reality of living in this country is a factor. Not everyone is in a position financially to quit their job and probably blacklisted from their industry.
We do not have an adequate social safety net in this country. To be able to make principled stands without having to worry about your future prospects, you'd have to be independently wealthy, like the fuckers doing this shit. And that's entirely by design with the policies they've made happen over the last 60+ years. Over a quarter of this country lives paycheck to paycheck now, that will include a lot of federal employees.
Ah, so a couple questions to see if you're just a fucking idiot that thinks idealism can be reality, or if you're even relevant to the conversation.
Are you American or otherwise working in the United States currently?
If so, how long would you be able to survive if you were to be fired or quit and not be able to work in your same industry? Meaning you would be starting off in an entry level role probably in unskilled labor, because most government workers aren't in charge, they're working desk jobs to make things function or doing some sort of inspection work, neither of which usually need college educations.
If you're not American, your opinion on this honestly means very little here since you do not have experience with working in the US.
So you only stand for something if you get unemployment?
WTF Indeed, yes it's more impressive to stand for something if you are willing to sacrifice your whole life, be willing to live on the streets etc...
Fact is there's not that many people that can do that. There's no safety nets in this country, losing your job isn't just the possibility of having to move to a smaller house, it's the possibility of begging friends and family to stay with them, as the bottom rung of employment isn't even enough to afford a 1 bedroom apartment, and that's of course assuming only you are the one to pay that price, IE wife, kids who need college etc...
Godwin time here, as much as everyone wants to say they'd be the person who hid jews in their attic in ww2, reality is while you can applaud those who did, you can't really look down on those who didn't. The risks of completely ruining not just your own life, but the lives of those who you care the most about, to save complete strangers, is not a decision that is ever a given for anyone to make.
Over half of federal workers are unionized so if Elmo fucks around too much, he just may find out. Many government workers are getting below market rates in exchange for good benefits, security and some sense of helping the commonwealth. They did not sign up for dealing with this chucklefuck. Replacing a bunch of sysadmins, accountants, lawyers and scientists at government pay levels would be challenging.
Thats the trick… They don’t intend to replace them. This is a thinly disguised austerity measure, intended to cripple agencies to later “show” their ineffectiveness.
Court costs and being out of work are both fun. But, as it turns out, personal justice is way less important than the food/clothing/shelter triumvirate the money can fund instead of legal fights.
No one understands this part. We had the largest demonstrations of my 30 years of life during the pandemic of all things....why? Because everyone was getting government stipends to stay home from work and people had time to fight for what's right instead of putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads.