California as A Corporation
If you live in The Land of Eternal Melodrama, otherwise known as the state of California, you know that the 5th (or 6th) largest economy in the world is going down the tubes. Boom and bust is all California can ever do. Greed runs deep here.
Arnold S has been bashing state workers now for a few months and this week my friend who is a public health nurse who makes a whopping $55,000 ran into some minor hostility in her state car this week. "Megan" helps corporate health care companies find options for health care for the poor which is now all of us. She is also part of a task force to monitor cases of the Swine flu. She enjoys her job and is good at it. She likes serving the public and considers it a noble thing to do. I know, she's a loser.
This week she told me when she parked her car in a not so great neighborhood to visit a local health clinic, she was asked by a nearby white man apparently waiting for someone, "do you like your car?" "What?" she asked. "Do you like your state car?" Thinking he was asking her about it because it is a hybrid Prius, she went on about it being a comfortable vehicle and the gas mileage was pretty good but not quite up to what she would expect..... The man then lit into her how he wished he could have a Prius but he wasn't a state worker like her and he hoped she enjoyed it because he never will. Then he turned away from her and stomped down the block. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. Ever.
Who knows why it happened but we do have a governor that is in the paper every day bashing state workers. To me it is incomprehensible that the governor of any state would intentionally create hostility between his own public servants and the public they serve. In fact, it is idiotic because the state workers SERVE the citizens so if you cut the state workers you deprive the citizens of services they paid for through their state income taxes.
So after a little too much caffeine this a.m., I called the gov office and spoke to their 13 year old "staffer" (ok maybe she was 18) and was told that Arnold S has to run this state "like any other corporation" meaning "he has to lay off his workers."
I reminded this 12 year old that a coroporation and one of the United States are not the same thing. I also reminded her that most state jobs pay BELOW the national average for state workers and they certainly pay much lower than the private sector. I reminded her many state workers bust their asses to serve their public, like my friend. I reminded her that the state workers work for ALL citizens. They do not work for profit so they are motivated to serve the public and not motivated to, I don't know, "work the system" and lie, cheat, screw people for profit, like, gosh, uhm, what just happened on, ah. Wall Street? Is this a good enough example? Or how about ENRON? Anybody remember ENRON? I think this was a corporation and gosh, what a great job they did (and those traders!) serving the public, huh?
I asked her if the Gov realized that people are tribal and stupid and if he continues to say hostile things about state workers, someone could get hurt.
The 12 year old said, "Oh Governor S would NEVER want that."
So, I guess my worry is that we are now lumping in states which are supported by public tax dollars in with corporations. We have a governor that seems to think California is one giant corporation. It is apparently not one of the United States full of HUMAN BEINGS who have paid into it for services they need and want. I know, it's just terrible that my friend, the public health nurse, isn't working for a corporation doing what she does because then she would be making a TON of money that would, of course, be paid for with TAX DOLLARS but privitization is so sweet because even though it costs the taxpayer 200-500% more, the PROFITS....man. And then the campaign funds? Wow. But no. There is no corporation yet that milks Megan for all she's worth so she can "help people." Apparently this would be the ideal situation in Arnold's warped mind.
The Republican party in this country is now addicted to two things--hysteria as in creating it, and hatred. They are moving into a realm that is creating a kind of poison in our country and our state. The question always is, why do they constantly get away with it?
You're a good friend and raise a good point. Here in Illinois (maybe you've heard of our cruddy budget and corrupt governor?), and here Gov. Quinn has decided that teacher pensions are the cash cow and has the state citizens riled up to take our pensions. I am a non-tenured university professor, meaning I make less than most public school teachers with half my education and training. I'm not sure how it is in other states, but in Illinois, state employees don't pay social security - we have our pension. So, not only do I teach at a state school and have more school debt and less salary than my high school teacher counterparts (and forget perks like a state car...those are only for administrators), but now the state is rabidly after the little bit of pension I have, and I don't have a social security safety net. I could do this job at the private school up the road, or in a better funded state school in another state, but I'm an alum of this program and feel a loyalty to it and our students. I just can't bear to move for money...
You're right - state workers are there to serve, and it's shameful how we're exploited as the bad guys of the budget. How about taking a look at how much it costs to run the governor's residence, and how much is spent hooking up friends with no-bid contracts and cultivating clout?
I'm wondering how long before people in California start lashing out at people who are only trying to help them...
June 20, 2009 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I hate to say your email is comforting but misery loves company. Of course, the politics in Illinois are almost or more infamous than in California and as here, for all the wrong reasons. How wonderful if one day it was for all the right reasons.
When I read Naomi Wolf's book, The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot published by Chelsea Green, she basically talks about a point at which the system tips into fascism very quickly. I would argue handing over public tax dollars to banks that then hang on to the money and the simultaneous kicking out of people from their homes has tipped us. (We done tipped, as they say). For every action they take that oppresses people like you and I, they gain power. Now it is legitimate to do this in the future. Arnold has created a situation where it will forever be legitimate to
use state workers as pawns. It is precedent setting. As Noam Chomkey explains, the danger is in the legitimitzation of previously illegimate actions. Cutting your pension is now a legitimate action. Gutting state programs while not returning people's tax money for doing it when they paid for the services, is now legitimate.
Humans have this very disturbing ability to habituate to nearly anything. Our planet is dying and this will take the ability to adapt and habituate to its ultimate climax. We will not be able to "habituate" when basal temperatures of the planet reach an average of 130 degrees or higher or CO2 levels become lethal but we are counting on this. We always do.
We are habituating now to fascism. The corporate powers count on our doing this eventually. Esp in America where we are loathe to get off our asses and miss our favorite TV show. While we watch, the stripping of our liberties continues...
If you can adapt yourself to doing your job as a volunteer...I hear you about your love for what you do. They count on this too. Or you dive head long into narccisism to save yourself. After years of caring and fighting, many people just give up and go in this direction. This then feeds capitalism again.
Where is justice in America in 2009? It is not with us and may never be again.
The world is going mad.
Thanks for your comment.
June 27, 2009 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink