State Foot Soldiers

State workers are not the favorites these days.. No, I would have to say, the paparrazi are not trailing me, just to get a glimpse of what exciting policy issues I am thinking about. Or what the latest forecast might be for people in Trade Act training. Darn, I would love to offer autographs.

But there are plenty of people with hatred for us, it seems. Fat and happy they think we are (sometimes I wish like Yoda I could talk, but that wouldn't satisfy the bureacracy).

OK well lets draw a comparison. When troops come back from an unpopular war - take your pick - Iraq, Afghanistan, or even wars of old like Vietnam. Its all about the individuals who sacrificed so much. People mostly get that the individual private first class or enlisted man or woman does not define policy. They go where they are deployed. They do what their mission commander tells them to do. They are issued weapons of war, and carry it out. And the individual (should be, I believe we fall short as a society) should be respected and treated with what they need on their return.

But you don't yell at the soldiers returning and say - hey, why did you do that?! Why are you accepting those VA benefits? And why are your family members getting benefits too?

But state workers seem to bear the brunt of policy decisions. As today's letter writer to the Oregonian offered, maybe just maybe they aren't overcompensated. Maybe there are too many of them. Since the state "system" has to be sustainable, in a budget sense.

I guess we don't have this problem with funding soldiers, and wars. The check is blank and any amount can be written in. Maybe there are policy objectives, maybe there aren't. Well no one holds military commanders to performance-based budgeting. Every federal appropriation for war is "supplemental", as in "lets figure out how much we need, debate it, and go for it!".

I would like people to think about the "system" that state employees are in. I did not chose Governor's Day - it is something handed out, as perhaps a weekend pass for a returning soldier. I did not chose to have more spent on prisons than on schools in this state. Those are policy issues - please contact your legislator. And maybe I will do the same.

Since some day, when the mass of state workers leave for their cars at 5pm from government plaza, we would like to be appreciated. Maybe not paparrazi, ok (don't have the dark glasses for that in any case) but some respect, appreciation for keeping the state rational and sane, as much as we are able, for another day.