“THE WORKERS ARE FEW”
by Cash Michaels
In case you’ve ever wondered how I come up with topics to write about in my weekly commentaries, usually I read a lot of news stories or watch a lot of political discussion on television, waiting for a subject to incessantly tug at me until I can’t resist it.
This week, a funny thing happened during my decision-making process. Just as I had decided to focus on the plight of 1.4 million federal workers who are now without jobs because of this insane federal shutdown we’ve got going on, my cousin Denice, who is also a minister, sent me a Bible passage, as she does everyday.
Her Bible passages are usually very inspiring, but this one proved to also be profound.
Matthew 9 - 37,38:Then He said to His disciples, “The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”
Now, I’m no biblical scholar like my friend and colleague, Rev. Lib Campbell on NC Spin.com, so I won’t even attempt to biblically interpret this important piece of New Testament wisdom.
But my minister-cousin sending me this Bible passage at the exact moment I had decided on what to focus on this week confirmed to me that something should be said on behalf of those dedicated federal former employees who now find themselves unfairly separated from the jobs they’ve been loyal to for many years making sure that our national governing apparatus ran smoothly for all citizens, regardless of political background, race, gender, religion, or any other barrier that traditionally divides us.
This is the second longest federal government shutdown in history, and these people deserve our respect, and our support, especially during these tough times, and I don’t think enough has been said, or has been written about the value these people traditionally bring to our nation.
From supporting our families to feeding starving populations abroad, our federal workers have been unmitigated heroes always ready to answer the call. And the shameful fact that they are now being woefully disrespected by their employers - the president and the Republican-led Congress, who happen to work for us, by the way - is a disgrace that we shall never live down.
All of this deliberate calamity, while Trump - who doesn't even have the decency to stay in the country during this time of crisis - brazenly spends $300 million destroying history demolishing the East Wing of the White House right in front of our eyes for a damn ballroom no one asked for, or take a trip to Asia so he can look important to the rest of the world.
I remember a classic episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit where my favorite character, Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, portrayed by rapper Ice-T, told another detective during a conversation, “I have respect for the working man,” and those words left a lasting impression on me ever since.
It was a truism that couldn’t be denied. A man (or woman) who worked hard to build their skills, and provide valuable service to others, just so that they could feed their families and provide needed shelter and support, was a standard all of us as children, no matter what your color or community, were encouraged to aspire to. And that’s because the golden principle of doing an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay was the maxim.
Being known as a “working” man or woman was one way people got to know you as an honest, reputable person to associate and do business with (and for the record, I include women in this not to be patronizing. There are millions of mothers, like my own, bless her soul, who worked tirelessly every day to make sure that their children received the best in life beyond a place to sleep and food to eat.).
So hardworking women (especially mothers) get mad respect from this Brooklyn-born only child of GOD, trust me.
Well many of those women have been unfairly punished by this shutdown too. And mind you, the insidious part of it all is that many of these federal workers - who were working paycheck to paycheck already - are being targeted because of the kind of work that they did. “Democrat workers,” they were dismissively called by their president recently, who just happened to work for “Democrat agencies' of the federal government like the U.S. Dept. of Education, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. AID, the Voice of America and several others that did important work the Trump Administration deemed useless in this day and age. They were not to be trusted, and should be disposed of, the president demanded.
“They call him Darth Vader,” Trump said of Russell Voight, head of the OMB (Office of Management and Budget), the government official slashing all of the federal workers Trump wants gone. “I call him a fine man. He’s cutting Democrat priorities, and they’re never going to get them back,” Trump told The Guardian newspaper, in claiming the shutdown allows the administration to enact cuts to unwanted federal services and programs.
Meanwhile Republican House Speaker Mike “MAGA Mouse” Johnson has put members of the House on a more than a month-long paid vacation during the shutdown, shamelessly doing so while unemployed federal workers worry about unpaid house mortgages, unpaid car notes and unpaid medical expenses.
Virtually 30 days ago, affected federal workers proudly had employment, working for the needs of the American people. Today, many of them are either unemployed or on furlough, not getting a paycheck to feed their families simply because the president has decided that with the federal government shutdown, he doesn’t need them or their agency anymore. In fact, he curses the very work that they did if it wasn’t MAGA approved, like working for the newly labeled “Dept. of War.”
If you’re a federal government employee trained to carry a gun or blow stuff up, this president will even borrow $130 million from one of his rich billionaire buddies to make sure you get paid. But if you’re an air traffic controller, not so much. If you’re still on the job, you have no idea if you’’ll ever get a paycheck for being there, even if it’s the law.
I’m not knocking our brave military men and women. Lord knows they didn’t ask to be caught up in the middle this mess either. It’s not their fault that their president and his nazi-like administration are cold-blooded users and liars.
"People are scared. They don't know how they're going to pay their bills. They don't know how they're going to put food on the table," one out-of-work federal employee told the Business Insider. "People are asking about unemployment. They're asking about whether they can file for food stamps."
In my mind, when Christ said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few…,” from the context of this current abhorrent federal shutdown, where hundreds of thousands of good, able-bodied federal workers have been cast aside, not being allowed to perform services to the nation they once proudly did, Christ was right - the harvest is plentiful, the work that remains to be done to keep our nation moving forward is nowhere near complete.
There is still critical scientific and medical research to be done to move the country forward and improve the lives of average Americans. Tens of millions of impoverished people around the world still depend on our government largess to feed their populations and offer medical assistance.
42 million in this country (1.4 million in North Carolina) who received food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), not because they are lazy or won’t work, but are not able to, will now suffer without food as of Nov. 1st because of the government shutdown.The lawsuits from various states, including North Carolina, to stop this madness, are piling up.
Many in the Dept. of Education who worked diligently to ensure that handicapped students and children who are not yet proficient in speaking English get the training they need, are not on the job.
Federal food inspectors, now off the job of ensuring that the expensive meat and vegetables many Americans are struggling to afford is safe to bring home to their families.
Air quality inspectors at the Environmental Protection Agency, now benched from ensuring that the air we all breathe is safe.
With the holiday season fast approaching, air travel now being slowed down or stopped all together because air traffic controllers - considered essential workers - are calling in sick because the shutdown is delaying their pay.
I could go on and on, but the fact is, thanks to the president’s scheme to cut the size of government so that his rich, filthy buddies like Elon Musk don’t have to pay their fair share of federal taxes, this is why so many federal workers are now on food pantry lines desperately seeking survival, instead of rightfully in line to do their jobs.
The workers are few, thanks to Trump, to do the work, to toil in the plentiful harvest that is America, as they’re supposed to be doing.
And because of that, we all suffer.
A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered that the Trump Administration stop its firing of federal employees indefinitely during the shutdown, but the damage has already been done.
Meanwhile the president is offering to bail out Argentina to the tune of $20 billion. Or is it $40 billion? Whatever the price tag, shamefully not one penny of that is helping Americans who need it.
Apparently, the torture for our federal employees isn’t going to change until the rest of us begin feeling some of it. Only when the federal government services we’re all accustomed to really noticeably change to the point of inconvenience, or even pain, will some of us start putting pressure on both sides in Congress to end this madness.
But Trump has made it clear that this is his opportunity to display “strength,” and having just traveled all over Asia portraying a tough American leader that folks have to deal with, he is in no mood to show anyone any mercy, especially his perceived enemies. So we’re stuck with this mess and the suffering until something unforeseen happens.
As the holiday season creeps up upon us, I sincerely pray for those federal employees who find themselves without a job, or even the prospect of getting a paycheck.
My wife and I are prepared to contribute what we can to a local food pantry or church to help the affected federal workers living in our area. It's the least we can do. I hope you and yours will give careful consideration to doing the same.
What our nation has done to our federal workers is truly a disgrace!
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