By Bill Wilson
While it may not be top news around much of the country, in the Washington, D.C. area the staffing cuts in various federal government offices are all consuming. This is neither surprising nor without merit. With 375,000 federal workers in the D.C. Metro region, the impact of any employment cut will be felt immediately.
But the macro-economic impact of sizable reductions in federal workers is not the primary result. The impact on individuals and their families is. And in that measure, whether it is 100,000 jobs lost or 1, the impact is harsh and all too real. The issue of justification or economic long-term need to reduce government expenditures are in fact secondary to those now on the street.
Are there those who openly defy the lawful orders of the political leadership? Yes. And are there federal employees who have acted as if they were a law unto themselves with no accountability? Sadly, also yes. But how many fall into these categories? I would wager few do. As for those who have gamed the system, perpetrated fraud or outright theft as has been uncovered in some high-profile instances, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Their punishment should be severe. Why? Because their actions have not only harmed the general public, but they have harmed federal employees more. By tarring all federal employees with the stain of their actions, these criminals need to be punished.
But that still leaves hundreds of thousands of people who go to work, do their jobs and are now being harmed by the cuts the Administration is advancing, what of them? That is where a reasoned eye needs to be applied. After all, people will lose their homes, children will not receive the benefits of a sound and stable home, and overall, the quality of life for the entire region will suffer.
Some quick history can show how in many ways we have been here before. A little over 20 years ago, the political decision was made to embrace globalism advocated by Wall Street and the deep thinkers of economic theory. Former President George W. Bush pushed to have China become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which launched a frenzy of investment in China. And it launched a bloodletting throughout America’s small towns and communities. Over 4 million manufacturing jobs were destroyed, shipped off to foreign lands to take advantage of low wages. Businesses by the hundreds of thousands shut their doors and were forever gone. To this day the full, real costs have not been calculated.
Oh, there were the occasional speeches and efforts in Congress to help those millions of people. But when the rubber hit the road, all they got were pronouncements of sympathy and the condescending advice to “learn to code.” They were left by the side of the road. What followed was drug addiction, broken families, unemployment, devastated communities that look more like war zones than American towns and cynicism. To say it did great damage to our nation is an understatement of epic proportions.
Now, today, will we do it again? Will we cut a huge number of people from the federal payrolls and simply leave them by the side of road to rot? And what will that accomplish? If the WTO treachery has had generational impact in the old Rust Belt and through the hills of Appalachia, will the moves now – needed and justified or not – do the same thing? Will we turn away from the people fired and allow them to fester in their rage waiting for the next opportunity to exact revenge?
There is a better way. We need to take it. The Trump administration needs to take it.
The administration should immediately establish teams to help all terminated federal employees. That help should be measurable and transparent – not phony scam organizations providing nothing. Where people are in danger of losing their homes, the support teams should work to find bridge financing so that these people can find stable work and get back on track. Jobs, the lifeblood, need to be found. Whether in the immediate region or at other locations. And if the only option requires a move to another part of the nation, and the individual and their families are willing to make the move, the support teams need to assist in the move. That means money, of course. But if some portion of the savings from eliminating the federal position is used to help the former employee get on their feet, so be it.
There are dozens of other things to be considered, from healthcare to parental care to medications and beyond. But all of that can be set in motion by the decision to commit to assist the people being cut. This is not a normal federal undertaking. It should not last forever, in fact it should accomplish its goals and close by the end of the current administration’s term.
This is the humane thing to do. It is the right thing to do. But if that is not enough for some, I contend it is politically smart thing to do. As the old saying goes, good policy is good politics. This would be good policy and good politics.
How? How is spending a lot of money to help terminated federal workers good?
One example of the extended impact of ignoring people in severe distress should suffice. In 2012 opposition to the radicalism of Barack Obama was rising. It was clear that he was vulnerable. But the GOP nominated a hedge fund multi-millionaire, Mitt Romney, who exuded plutocratic attitudes. While the final Electoral Vote was a landslide for Obama, there had been a clear pathway for Romney to win and prevent the destruction of the Obama second term. But it ran headlong into millions of working-class voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin who had suffered greatly under the Bush-WTO regime. Those voters – estimated at the time at over 5 million in the key states – simply stayed home. They didn’t care because they had no dog in the fight.
Throwing people away has consequences. Ask Mitt Romney. Now, some will say, “why care here? Those people will never vote for the GOP or a MAGA candidate.” Perhaps. But don’t think for one minute that they will not have any reaction down the line. They will and their children will, and their extended families will as well. If by simply extending a hand to them the anger and sadness can be reduced even a little, it will have a positive political impact.
There is one other element to consider. Joe Biden ran for President promising to bring the country together, to forge unity. Instead, Biden will go down as the most divisive person to occupy the White House in generations. His dystopian speech in Philadelphia with the red lights and armed guards was the most tone-deaf and damaging presidential speech ever.
Trump, by comparison, is always portrayed as divisive. And true, his New York demeanor and braggadocio does rub some the wrong way. But he honestly believes the reductions in federal spending are essential to the survival of the country. So, if that is true, then what is to be lost by giving a helping hand to the people being asked to bear the disproportionate share of the burden? Biden ran on unity and will be remembered as the Great Divider. Trump ran on a politics of a divided nation but can be remembered as the Great Unifier.
How the federal employees being let go are treated will reverberate for generations. Nothing in politics is clearly seen until many years and often decades later. Here is a unique opportunity to avoid the mistakes of the past and extend the hand of national unity to those in need. For the good of the nation, let’s all pray it is the path we take.
Bill Wilson is the former president of Americans for Limited Government.
