I retired from NASA at the end of 2021 with 34 years of service. I started co-oping in summer 1985, while working on a Masters in Electrical Engineering, so it was my only professional job.
I felt good about my career. It was challenging, interesting, and growthful for me. I could probably have made more money in the private sector, but pay and benefits were good and I was serving my country.
But, now it turns out I was actually a thief and layabout. The United States government is not, according to the leader of the US government, an indispensable component of a healthy, thriving country. It’s just a bunch of thieves and incompetents standing in the way of good Americans making money. Most federal employees really ought to be pushed out and find “productive” work.
From the OPM Frequently Asked Questions page about the “Fork in the Road Letter,”
Am I allowed to get a second job during the deferred resignation period?
Absolutely! We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so. The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.
I wasn’t a “civil servant.” I was actually a deep state lacky. Allies are our enemies. Dictators are our friends. Vaccines make people sick. We have always been at war with Eastasia.
Currently, the war on federal workers is aimed at eliminating vast swaths of the people who provide government services (also known as “corruption”), especially anything a Democrat might approve of. At least thousands of probationary employees are currently being sacked, through no fault of their work and almost certainly illegally. This includes a friend of mine’s daughter who recently changed Agencies and moved from New Orleans to Denver for the new job.
I do expect they will eventually turn to clawing back the benefits those employees and past employees are/will be sucking from the good people of America, like retirement savings and health care. That’s when it will directly affect me. Treating government like a business obviously includes sacking pensions, running up debt, and then abandoning the husk, as virtuous corporate raiders do.
I get that the fear and uncertainty is most of the point. Even the whole “Gulf of America” nonsense is to sow chaos, to make everyone uncertain of reality. It’s a cultural revolution, and truth is whatever our great leader says it is today.
In our new Orwellian reality, the US Government is the enemy. Has it ever done anything good? Can you think of anything the American Government has ever done to benefit you, or anyone you know? Let’s see if we can remember anything, before the history rewrite is complete.
Thank you Bryan. I sympathize, being suddenly made the scapegoat of the right-wing. Good luck to you and keep sharing.
I have never met a government employee during 40 years of government service who did not do their best to fulfill the mission of their organization’s responsibility to the people of the US. Did the reader notice I used the word “service”, because all recognize their employment to be a service to people.
There are always a small few who look for the least they can do to keep from being fired. That describes any job though. That is especially true in corporate jobs where the purpose to make money for the owners and stockholder’s. In a great company employees are trained to have their focus on service to the customer. Owners’ focus is the same, but includes the well-being of the employees. They seek a reasonable sustained profit, not year over year growth, in order to preserve employee employment and future security. THAT is what moral and family values lead to. It isn’t rocket science to realize what the worship of money and power of others leads to.
All in government know that their jobs would not exist without having a clear objective and success to serve the people of the USA. Those that would eliminate those jobs are not interested in serving anything other than themselves.