In Which This Federal Employee Family Fights Back

So I was hanging out on the Federal Times news website this morning. Nothing new there.


And I was reading about how, for the zillionth time, there's another plan out there to financially smack around federal employees. Nothing new there.


Seems the House Money People or Whoevertheyare Blahblah Committee has voted to basically cut federal pay by 5%. Nothing new there.


Then I read a comment on that news story that was very interesting. It seems to have been written by a fellow federal employee, and it said:


                                             ~   ~   ~


"Hey folks, I did a Google search on opposition to Paul Ryan, the architect of most of the cuts to federal pay and benefits and it looks like there is a promising fellow named Rob Zerban who is going up against Ryan in the Wisconsin 1st district. I just sent a donation to his election campaign against Ryan, hopefully it's a few bucks well spent. Just for the record, I don't work for the campaign or have any ties to the candidate nor was I asked to post anything on his behalf. It just seemed like the right thing to do since I don't live in Wisconsin and can't directly cast a vote against Ryan in the November election. Also I am posting this from my home computer and on my own time."


                                              ~   ~   ~


I read that and I was all WHOA.


You mean to tell me that most of the anti-federal-employee attacks, where people are freezing my husband's salary and freezing his cost of living adjustments and trying to take away his benefits and trying to screw with him financially left and right are mostly coming from one single political dude named Paul Ryan? I mean, I've never heard of the guy before, but I cannot TELL YOU how sick to death I am of Congresspeople trying to screw with my husband's pay and benefits. It's disgusting to me.


Now, here's a quick disclaimer. At this point in my life, I pretty much don't care about politics. And, actually, the only thing that's going to be a bummer about being on R&R to the States next month is that I'll be back in the world of American politics.


But, y'all, the one thing that motivates me to NO END is doing whatever I can to stop the continued attack on federal employees. 


So, anyway. The Googles tells me that this Paul Ryan dude is the House Budget Committee Chairman. And he has actually said that federal employees are "immune from the effects of the recession." Which is about the stupidest thing I have ever read. He has also said that "government bureaucrats in Washington enjoy significant advantages over those whose tax dollars finance their compensation." Except that most government employees live outside of Washington, haven't had pay increases or cost of living adjustments in YEARS, are barely middle class, and do all manner of things like guard our borders, keep our food safe, care for our disabled veterans, etc. Not to mention, you know, how some of us are living in crappy places in order to help Americans and American needs overseas. And how pretty much ALL of us are sick to death of being treated like we're worse than Satan and the root of all of the ills of the U.S. economy.


So I looked up the best challenger to this anti-federal-employee Paul Ryan dude, like that comment said. Meet:





Rob Zerban. And his lovely wife, Cornelia, of course.

Like the commenter, above, I cannot vote for Rob Zerban, because I don't live in Wisconsin. But I sure can give money to his campaign. 


And I have never, in my life, EVER given money to a political campaign before. No joke. 


Rob Zerban is a bit of the underdog in the race right now. His campaign has less cash than that anti-federal-employee Paul Ryan dude (who I guess is some sort of Political Big Deal or whatever), however, it's out there on the interwebz that Rob Zerban really does have a shot to unseat him.


So, you know what? I'm going to treat this almost like a drinking game. Every single time I read on Federal Times about how Mr. Political Big Deal Paul Ryan has sponsored this or is doing that to screw federal employees, I'm going to give money to the Rob Zerban campaign. 


At least it will make me feel better!

Comments

[Mom]

You don't have to worry about Paul Ryan. Nobody listens to him or votes for his ideas, even the Republicans in Congress.

He tried to get a bill passed that the US could only spend as much money as it took in. Sheer stupidity.

He tried to get a bill passed to drastically cut government spending. Complete idiocy.

He tried to freeze hiring of government workers because we have no money to pay them or their pensions. What kind of a lunatic is he?

He tried to privatize Social Security so that our kids would have some of their own money to fall back on, instead of allowing the government to spend it all as soon as it came into the system. Who listens to moronic plans like that?

The US is having no money problems, even though we're spending more than 4 billion dollars a day on interest to countries we borrowed money from in order to pay bills that we can't.

Entrust your life to the people who tell you that everything is fine. Believe with your whole heart the people who hire government workers and balloon new and old government programs. They are hiring and ballooning their voting base so they can stay in office and continue doing what they've been doing, and it's working perfectly. We will all remain safe and secure with this plan.

So the US is broke? What difference does it make that we owe more money than the entire country takes in? We will never have to go into austerity, drastically cut jobs/government agencies/programs, or print so much money that a loaf of bread costs a wheelbarrow full of paper. We are the US! Everything is fine. Paul Ryan should be ignored.

Actually, Paul Ryan is the enemy.

[TG]

Actually, Paul Ryan is probably my oldest son's #1 hero right now.

He wanted us to name the new baby Ryan after him. (He was also lobbying for Acton.)

In spite of saying stupid things from time to time, his budget proposal is probably one of the most realistic for long-term fiscal health. Difficult to implement and not popular, but easier to do now than waiting and facing something more dire *cough, Greece*.

Anyway, I understand where you are coming from and I don't think Ryan's proposed budget is going to be adopted -- but I'm glad his voice for being more fiscally cautious is in the federal government (in spite of occasional dumb remarks.)

[TG]

J15 likes Paul Ryan so much, that one of his top college picks is University of Chicago -- not only for their economics program, but also because it is close enough for him to volunteer/intern for Ryan. So. . . yeah. . . I hear about him a lot!

[TG]

Btw. . . just wanted you to know that my comments are said with the utmost friendliness. *grin* I assume you'd know that, but just in case. . .

[Becky Marvin]

So,is Paul Ryan planning to take a 5% cut in his pay? How about a 5% cut to his campaign? How about a 5% cut in his benefits?