Patriots?

Yesterday President Obama called civil service workers patriots and asked them to take to take a two year pay freeze. Pay raises have become taken for granted by public employees. For the first time in modern history, they are being asked to forgo one. They are angry. They believe that is no way to treat patriots. That may be so but they are not really patriots. Obama was flattering them. They are employees.

Soldiers may be patriots. On occasion, politicians might be patriots. Civilians may be patriotic. Police and firemen are courageous. Pulling children out of a burning building is heroic, but it is not patriotic. We rely on firemen and medics to rescue us. We rely on policemen to protect us. We trust that heroism will be there when we need it. We certainly do not rely on their patriotism. I would rather have a heroic fire department than a patriotic one. I am sure most Americans would. Soldiers may be patriots but are not necessarily so. Volunteering to enlist is not the bar for patriotism. Sacrificing to serve one's country is a patriotic thing. Enlisting to acquire job skills or get money for college is not.

People who go to work at government offices are not patriots. They certainly are not heroic. Most are complacent bureaucrats safely ensconced in recession proof jobs with benefits envied by most of the workforce. If they are unhappy and feel they are being mistreated they can quit. I'll wager they won't. They will only redouble their effort to get what they feel is due to them.

Government workers do not work for themselves. They work for us. If we cannot afford them their annual pay raises then they should not get them. The U.S. is going broke. Costs have to be cut. The tax payers should not have to bear the burden alone. When it comes to cutting costs, the government cannot exclude itself. Government workers forgoing pay raises is no more unjust than autoworkers doing so. Saying we cannot afford to provide their automatic pay raises is not unpatriotic. Far from it.

In a capitalist country, no one can or should take their job for granted. No one should be entitled to automatic pay raises regardless of performance. Besides, if government workers received their raises on the basis of performance, many would not have received a raise in years. If their jobs were tied to performance, many would be lucky to have jobs.

Going to to work is not patriotic. Neither is doing your job. It is a responsibility. Government workers, like most other workers, agree to take their job with the understanding that they will be paid a certain amount for doing a specific task. For the most part, they are not highly trained professionals. They are clerks and bureaucrats, not patriots. If the government cannot afford to give them their automatic pay raises for just showing up to work and doing their job, they should not get them. They are free to find employment elsewhere if the job becomes unbearable. My bet is they won't. Even without an automatic pay raise, they would be hard pressed to find a job where as little was demanded of them for the pay and benefits they receive. They know it. Besides, nothing was said about the next automatic pay raise. It would not be at all surprising if the next raise they get compensates them for the one they are being asked to forgo. If their union is worth its dues, the next raise will be. That is why they might grumble and threaten, but they will not quit. They might decide to do their job with less alacrity and enthusiasm, but who would know?

True patriots go beyond what is expected of them. They risk life and property for love of their country, not for money. Just as a young man who enlists in the military simply to gain money for college, learn a skill, or just get away from home is not a patriot, a person who shows up for work in the Department of Agriculture for no other reason than that is their job is not a patriot.

From what I read and hear, I think most people don't know what a patriot is. It has become little more than a term of respect. If bureaucrats want to be patriots and have the respect of the nation, they will have to earn it. Good luck. If bureaucrats are patriots, what are we to call those who do more than put in forty hours a week in an air conditioned office for a paycheck?

We are on the verge of losing a good and a noble concept. If all patriotism required was displaying a flag, going to work, and publicly avowing your love for the nation and its troops, it would be a cheap thing indeed. A true patriot risks life and property for his country. The government is going broke. Being asked to forgo an automatic pay raise does not seem like much to ask of a patriot, especially when one considers how such an action would be a benefit to the nation.

People should take the time to look up "patriot" in the dictionary. Then they should look up "employee".