I don’t know what to say.
I too have noticed a staggering amount of far right and/or libertarian folks in my office. No furloughs, but the huffing and puffing at the prospect of enduring them was indeed amusing.
One woman even openly stated that “only those that voted for Obama should be furloughed”.
Not sure where her mind was.
At least they’re staying true to the essential hypocrisy of Libertarian behavior.
All of my WAT.
Libertarians in government jobs comes to mind about as easy as the Ethiopian Space Program.
I’d be surprised too, except that a few years back I met a libertarian who works in DC for the Congressional Budget Office, and not as a “until something better comes along” job, either. Blew my mind.
“I want smaller government! Fire all those lazy jerks sucking at the government teat!”
“…except for me.”
When I worked in public education, I had several coworkers who, weirdly enough, strongly disliked public education. I didn’t get it. It was funny when one of them was fired.
It’s been my experience over the past 40+ years that those who complain the loudest about government are the ones most eager to take government handouts in one form or another.
Point taken, but a Libertarian with a government job is not an oxymoron. Libertarians do not advocate no government, but a significantly smaller government that concentrates on core functions like defense and regulating interstate commerce. A libertarian in either of those departments (or the afore mentioned CBO, gotta have a budget) could be perfectly logical.
I’m a libertarian with a government job. Not necessarily a contradiction; libertarians aren’t the frothing anarchists that folks seem to have so much fun portraying them as.
Perfectly frustrating to see enormous wastes of tax money on what seems to be a day-to-day basis, though.
Your salary being a notable exception, I’m sure.
Everyone needs to pay the rent. Your ideals tend to suffer when you need the job to keep a roof over your head.
There was a guy around here a few years ago who was a communist. Thought Lenin and Stalin had the right idea. Hated the entire system of government. But was a full time employee of the federal government. Can’t seem to remember the name right now.
I don’t begrudge libertarians who work for the government. It’s just that I have to listen to these same people complain about the deficit, government waste, bureaucrat ineptitude, and high taxes, and then I have to listen to them complain when the logical result of their ideology affects them personally.
Even if there’s an underlying logic to their specific circumstances, my sympathy is greatly eroded.
Isn’t this just the flip side of asking why people who advocate higher taxes don’t pay extra money to the Treasury voluntarily? I.e., that’s it’s possible to believe that systemic change is desirable while also recognizing that individual gestures are unproductive?
I suspect that there are also some who believe in smaller government while also believing that the sequester is a bad way to go about it.
I was a government employee for a long time, and I also saw a lot of waste. I took action to reduce it when I could by doing projects to install energy efficient lighting, etc., and once turned in a suggestion that saved (and continues to save) the gov’t hundreds of thousands of dollars. I got a check for $5,000 for my effort, which at least showed that somebody was listening. Regrettably, the majority of employees just bitch without helping to find solutions in their own little fiefdoms.
No, the flipside is people who advocate higher taxes who then bitch about high taxes. I’m sure those people exist, but I don’t know any of them.
Well, my personal salary is relatively on par with my abilities and responsibility, so no it’s not a waste. I’m talking more about money wasted on material and equipment rather than personnel costs.
But it’s not an indivdual gesture is it? It’s being done across the board.
While I would seldom impugn someone who is willing to work for a living, the concept does seem a bit like a Jedi running the cafeteria on the Death Star.
Although not really to my taste — I prefer multicamera setups — I noticed a rather obnoxious civil servant in ‘Parks & Rec’, who seemed to be a Randian stereotype. I thought that anyone who despises taxes and government and adores private enterprise really shouldn’t be sucking the government teat *.
Much like career social workers who hate the poor and consider them architects of their own misfortune: why stick with perpetuating damaging help when you are sure beyond sure both they and you can get rich without money from the government ?
- The sucking bit copied from one of those weird paperback comic novels America produced in the 1950s to '60s all written by someone called Art or Max. This was about an USAF base being built in the country, or something, and a local businessman heartily and jocularly jabs a colonel in the chest and congratulates him on suckling on Uncle Sam’s teat.