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On the most recent Three Whiskey Happy Hour, Steve, Lucretia, and John had a lengthy discussion about government employees and free speech, particularly uniformed service members and faculty of public colleges. (If you don't already listen to this podcast, I highly recommend it. Lots of very serious discussions, but the hosts are clearly having fun.)
It's a complicated topic and, of course, a prominent news item right now. It made me think of my own experiences.
I served as an enlisted man in the Air Force under Carter and then as a commissioned officer under Reagan. I don't think I ever knew what anyone's politics were, whether they were peers, subordinates, or superiors. While there was always a sort of disdain for politicians, no matter who was in office, I just don't remember anyone talking about politics. Maybe I didn't pay attention enough, but it was all we could do to get the day-to-day work done to even worry about it. I remember once receiving a letter from higher headquarters about the funding of golf course maintenance (I was a civil engineer) in which the author said, "I have talked to the Secretary (of the AF) about this..." The guidance seemed sort of dodgy, and it's the only time I ever recall anyone referring to an appointee as opposed to a uniformed service member or career civil servant.
This general absence of partisan posturing held up when I taught high school from 1997 to 2012. During the 2000 election I had two students get into a Bush vs. Gore argument. I told them to save it for outside of class and that both needed to work on the quality of their arguments. When the student supporting Bush rode home that day with his aunt (another teacher), he told her I might be a Democrat. She laughed out loud, filled him in and then told me about it the next day. During the 2004 election I had a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on my truck for months, and still some students asked me who I was voting for. I told them to look at my truck. I'm very proud that despite spending so much time with those kids that they still didn't know my views.
I wonder - is it the pervasiveness of social media that makes this such a problem now? I should note that when I was teaching, the rare leftie teachers we had on staff routinely talked about politics to students. I suspect that they believe in the superiority of their politics so much that they don't know why anyone wouldn't talk about them.
To those who served after me: Did it change? Were people talking about politics all the time?
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Likely a factor. But it's also a factor in changing the nature of communication to a performative one largely without substance. Everyone is an actor now. The left gave us terms like "performance art", "cosplay", and "live action role playing (LARPing)". So everyone must performatively participate.
Perhaps not anymore. Thus there can be no debate. If they believed things, they could support them in debate. What they say is often not what they believe, but rather a superficial and false pretext that they have been told by their masters won't be challenged.
The one thing that can be believed is their violence. Even when their asserted reasons are pretextual, the violence is real. And that's not a coincidence. The violence is immediately necessary upon the pretext being challenged.
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As a state employee in Pennsylvania, I was not allowed to run for office or have political statements on my desk or office walls. One could talk with his friends about politics at lunch or on breaks, but anyone with any sense seemed to know when not to bring it up. As with you in the service, the job at hand usually took most of our thoughts and energies.
There was one notable exception, a minority employee who thought that his minority status made him immune from discipline. He staged some sort of a protest to block traffic in one of the major tunnels if I recall correctly. When he was fired, nobody missed him.
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Those who seek and expect power over others have not ever debated nor explained nor made attempt to convert. They take until they are stopped - but not by debate.
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I was in the Navy mid to late 80's. We did talk about politics a bit but it wasn't pervasive. Work, women, and sports were much more popular discussion points.
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“gold course”? No wonder the AF seems so expensive to maintain… :)
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