Look, I'm not defending any New York City sanitation workers who shirked work during the recent blizzard by calling in sick -- the New York Post breathlessly reports that approximately 700 sanit workers called in sick on Monday and Tuesday, twice as many of the department's 6,000 employees as would normally do so. And I'm certainly not defending the plow crew that (again according to the Post) bought beer on the job and refused to plow. (Though I question whether it's physically possible for four sanitation workers to, in the Post's words, "get blitzed" on two six-packs of beer; mildly buzzed and unable to drive safely, but blitzed? Really? I wouldn't get "blitzed" on three beers, and I weigh 140 pounds.)
However, it strikes me as quite odd that right-wingers are disgusted by this. Aren't these the same folks who keep telling us that Ayn Rand is the most profound philosopher of modern times and that, according to her teachings, universal selfishness is the key to paradise on earth?
These guys are going Galt. They are indeed withholding their productivity to protest an employer and a city that can't operate without them not treating them what they believe they are worth. The Tea Party should be thrilled about them exercising their liberty against a government that does not value their work.
Of course, that would mean that the Tea Party is intellectually consistent in their rhetoric, which is where the entire theory breaks down like a '77 Gremlin X hatchback.
And you can bet anyone else in this country that tried an organized walkout like this in any industry, unionized or not, public or private sector, would be pilloried by the right in the exact same way. That universal selfishness would be raising your costs for the products and services you buy! Shun the Galties!
Only the rich are allowed to do this. Regular, "Real Americans" are supposed to work until they die to serve the
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I don't think most of us understand the depths of their selfishness. The ruling elite really do think that we are just guests in their world, in their minds our jobs exist only because of their generosity. This type of thought was marginalized in the past and people who spoke like this were shunned. Not anymore, these crazies have been enabled by our insane leaders and even elected to high office. The class war is over, it's time to place people in little piles; sanitation workers who won't work without complaint will be dealt with severely.
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