Okay, welcome all to our conference on national entitlement. If we could all just getting our coffee and berries cups and find a seat, we may change pronouns, confess our pleasure, and read the land acknowledgment. My name is Lincoln B. I am the coach, and my nouns are drop/dead. Before we get started, does everyone feel secure? Is someone triggered? Yes, you in the up… you feel uncomfortable and triggered? Nothing cares, Moonbeam. If you want to get out of these on moment, shut up and eat your ethically sourced wheat doughnut.
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To help set our conference into perspective, I’d like to start with three examples from my own lived knowledge.
Again when I was in radio, I was asked if I would like to apply for the Public Affairs place at the National Forest. While I am a conservative and a bourgeois, I love regional trees and gardens and think they are worth preserving. I usually feel a little gloomy when I see a fresh high-end home going up on a hillside. I hate to see our borderlands torn away for McMansions, although I have always been perplexed why a momentary oil and gas equipment on public lands means the end of the world, but a giant, multi-million money permanent residence does not. I guess you have to live in Alpine to know that kind of reasoning. But I digress.
I jumped at the chance. I had years of experience writing news papers and conducting conversations. Also, I knew the neighborhood and, by extension, the market. I was even excited about trees. But, I put up my resume and writing samples and was ready to apply. Therefore I was told that the work had been given to one of the player’s friends, who had zero practice in press or public matters.
Okay, there were other fish in the sea. I decided to apply for a work at another jungle in a distinct part of the country. The work was listed on a Tuesday. It closed at 9:00 on Wednesday night. Just hand-delivered apps were accepted. Best. Totally above-board.
But, let me put a cherry on top of all of that for you. If you are old enough, you may consider when the government shut down under Obama. You may also consider that was when federal workers put up barriers along the street so people driving by may not be able to notice Mt. Rushmore. But it gets classier. One Sunday at religion, a woman who worked for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service stormed up to me with a media release in her hands. She was angry that she had been given occasion off, yet though she would get back pay. But she wanted everyone in town to hear how put out she and all the other federal employees were. Of course, at the time, Obama’s DOI was gutting the oil and gas industry. People were losing work, running out of food, and facing foreclosure with zero promises that they would ever find work once. That didn’t also happen to her. After all, she and her co-workers had to get a two-week split.
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I mentioned these reports to show you illustrations of the arrogance that all too often has become a cornerstone of national employment. These people seem to forget that not only do the relaxation of us pay their pay, it is our wealth that money their health care and their retirement. Yes, there are national people who are dedicated and hard-working, but we aren’t hearing from them. But what is on full screen is the pain and rage displayed by federal workers who now must really leave their homes and go to their work, like citizens have been doing permanently. The Washington Times noted:
“Nobody is liking that, ” said Kyra Toland, a budget analyst with the Department of Labor who has worked in the federal government for over three decades.
Ms. Toland said federal employees — particularly those in data-driven jobs like hers — have a proven track record of getting things done remotely.
“We showed that we could do it, ” she said.
It is n’t just the rank-and-file. The American Federation of Government Employees also has its nose out of joint. Union president Everett Kelley stated:
To justify this backward action, lawmakers and members of President Trump’s transition team have spent months exaggerating the number of federal employees who telework and accusing those who do of failing to perform the duties of their jobs. The truth is that less than half of all federal jobs are eligible for telework, and the workers who are eligible to telework still spend most of their work hours at their regular duty stations.
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That may be, but when the union members howl over working conditions to which many in the U. S. must adhere, it is hard to muster much sympathy, particularly when you know such people are quickly on their way up the GS scale.
People are losing their minds because @POTUS @realDonaldTrump is forcing them back into the office. 😂. Someone sent me this one but there are tons apparently of people threatening that they’re going to quit. pic. twitter. com/L1tW6NfMUb— Jennifer ( @Smileatyou2day ) January 21, 2025
Good. pic. twitter. com/WrY58bKIEQ— Rothmus � � ( @Rothmus ) January 23, 2025
To add fuel to the fire, some federal employees are attempting to garner support by venting their anger on local businesses:
Over on Reddit, federal employees are in a total meltdown that President Trump has ordered them to return to the office and get back to work. Right now, the top suggestion is for employees to boycott all the local small businesses near their office — the restaurants, grocery … pic. twitter. com/sGP9Pu83ln— Charlie Kirk ( @charliekirk11 ) January 23, 2025
I can already feel the tears of empathy for these government workers welling in my eyes. Wait, sorry, that was a piece of sauerkraut.
All because they have to put on pants and show up to the office.
Thank you for attending our seminar today. If you didn’t get anything out of it, well, the same can be said for your tax dollars.
