Pilot: The Shutdown is slavery?

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https://pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/article_dfcc9d3c-6d4b-5ca2-b2f7-25693185384d.html

The silliness never ends. They can, of course, quit and seek other employment, an option slaves did not have.

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Published by Don Tabor

I am a former Chairman of the Tidewater Libertarian Party and was the 2007 LP candidate for the 14th district VA Senate. Previously, I was the Volunteer State Director for the FairTax. I am married 50 years with two grown children and 5 grandchildren.

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13 thoughts on “Pilot: The Shutdown is slavery?”

  2. Quit and find another job? That might be fine for a janitor, but for an Air Traffic Controller, that means a complete career change in the face of the reality that the shutdown could end tomorrow. And if they don’t show up for their unpaid job while trying to find another, they get fired and that shows up on their record.

    Newt Gingrich said that most government workers are Democrats anyway, so who cares? I did not know that a government employee had to declare his party to work for the government.

    As the article pointed out, this is uncharted territory. But no matter how this is parsed, the concept that a person could be fired because he did not show up at an unpaid job, losing accrued benefits, healthcare and probably some homes, rental units, credit ratings, etc.all for the lack of a presidential signature to fund the government is a real Alice in Wonderland situation.

    Slavery might not be too far off.

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    1. Find another job doesn’t mean find one in the same field. Don’t trivialize slavery.

      Keep in mind that those required to work will receive back pay at some point. Payment is delayed, not denied.

      But really, how is it lack of a Presidential signature and not lack of compromise by House Democrats?

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      1. The Congress approves spending and the president administers it.

        If shareholders through a board of directors makes fiscal decisions but the CEO doesn’t like it he can’t shut down the company unilaterally until he gets his way.

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  3. Silliness? Maybe a bit overstated, but certainly not silly. It’s the height of arrogance to posit that they can simply “seek” other jobs/careers. Children must fed, mortgages must be paid. You have lost ALL perspective to write such “silliness”. It should be beneath you, or any other creature capable of empathy. Lives are being disrupted on a fundamental level to cater to a narcissistic moron.

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    1. I’m not suggesting that it is no big thing to have to find another job, I am simply pointing out that slaves did not have that option.

      Delayed payment for work is a hardship, but slavery was an abomination.

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  4. Here’s the text of the 13th Amendment:

    “Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

    “Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

    I don’t think the lawsuit the federal employees have brought will survive judicial scrutiny. There is no conceivable similarity between “involuntary servitude” and being furloughed. Specifically, being on furlough means one is performing no services, involuntary or otherwise.

    The lawsuit and the attention it is getting in the press are just a public relations stunt.

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  5. It isn’t about the furloughed workers as much as it is about those who required to work without pay. Prison guards, air traffic controllers, TSA etc..

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    1. RE: “it is about those who required to work without pay.”

      Same argument. If not getting paid for not working is not servitude, then choosing to work without getting paid is not servitude.

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  6. “Choosing to work…”

    That is the sticking point. Those essential employees like ATC’s do not get unemployment insurance since they are guaranteed back pay. Fine. But if they refuse to work without income, they can be fired and get no unemployment insurance. And of course they have no job.

    Kind of a coercive situation in the real world of mortgages, car payments, bills, kids etc.

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    1. RE: “Kind of a coercive situation in the real world of mortgages, car payments, bills, kids etc.”

      Only if you are editorializing by equating “coersive” with “involuntary.”

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      1. If a robber sticks a gun to your head he is being “coercive”.

        But that does not mean you are handing him your money “voluntarily”.

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