RHETORIC HURTS

Who does it hurt when a right wing politician bashes the government? After all, politics and rhetoric are only a fun parlor game, Right? Government is inept, incompetent and evil so it should be ok to say as much, shouldn’t it? Why should the right wing be deprived of this cheap and easy way to avoid the complex problems of the day. The problem with an absolute stand that government can never be a part of any solution is how it affects those who serve in government. The implication of anti-government rhetoric is those who work in government are also always absolutely inept, incompetent and evil.

This rhetoric coming from the right has become so common place many politicians in power are beginning to abuse public servants as evidenced by an executive order issued by the Governor of Alabama this week.

This week, the governor of Alabama, Bob Riley (R-AL), scored some cheap points with government haters everywhere when he greatly expanded his State of Alabama - Open.alabama.gov website to include the exact salaries of all state employees. This action was supposed to be an improvement on a normal Freedom of Information request. Typically, after a citizen made the request, the State Finance Department would provide a job description and salary range for any employee. What would have been wrong with a website which supplied the same information? Couldn’t citizens ferret out overpaid employees just as well with a job description and pay range? Maybe, however, I am missing the point.

As we ponder the point of this action it is worth noting Riley didn’t even arrive at this idea himself. He follows other red-state wingnuts like Mark Sanford (R-SC) who post this information. Riley however, improved on the idea stolen from Sanford and others by including all employees down to the guy who empties the garbage. Usually corruption starts at the top but, Riley and his wingnut friends seem to be worried about something else. By the way, after 20 years of service the man who empties the garbage and mows the grass makes about $22,000.00. I am sure those jobs near the poverty line are rife with corruption. I guess that’s why is it ok to take away his dignity by posting his salary on the internet?

The dignity of those who have committed to public service is apparently easily sacrificed by absolutists who hate all government. Like other wingnut philosophies however, this one has self-fulfilling implications. By making public service unattractive, wingnuts insure government institutions have to recruit from the bottom of the barrel. They deny themselves the better, cheaper and faster government they say they want.

Wanting government to do everything or nothing is a question we as a society must answer. There is no doubt we must have a discussion about the role of government in the United States. We shouldn’t however, use public servants as pawns in this discussion just because we can. Wingnut politicians who claim to have the moral high ground shouldn’t have to use public servants to prove their point. Any valid arguments in a national discussion about more or less government should stand on their own without terrorizing the people who work in that government.