Public servants (not to be confused with elected politicians) have become the latest scapegoat in the right-wing's ideological war against government and taxation. Instead of laying the blame where it deserves to be – at the feet of Republicans for waging two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) without demanding that taxpayers sacrifice out of their pocketbooks to pay for those wars, the GOP has launched a nationwide attack on public service workers to divert the blame them for the country's economic woes away from where it deserves to be.
Policemen, firefighters, teachers, prison guards, road maintenance crews, health clinic nurses, regulators, inspectors, judges, scientists and low-level bureaucrats are not to blame for the Wall Street meltdown, the Mortgage Industry tanking or the shipping of millions of jobs overseas. Those fiascos you can lay at the feet of the well-heeled Republican politicians and the money interests that stand behind them and fund their campaigns.
Take General Electric, for example. Last year, GE raked in $14.2 billion dollars in profits, but didn't pay a dime in income taxes. What's worse, GE took advantage of corporate tax credits created by Republicans and siphoned $3.2 billion back from the U.S. Treasury. With corporate theft of that magnitude, supported by the GOP, no wonder the federal deficit is growing by leaps and bounds.
Perhaps public sector employees should find some solace in the fact that they all paid more in federal income taxes than GE last year, but they probably won't. They're too worried about keeping their jobs.
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