Letters to the Editor: Donald Trump has a point about civil service rules being too protective
To the editor: Doyle McManus makes the case against depriving the federal workforce of civil service protection. He fails to deal with the problem of how to terminate incompetent federal employees.
Federal employees are terminated at a far lower rate than those in the private sector. This is not a recent problem.
McManus also fails to mention, per the American Federation of Government Employees, that more than 1 million of the approximately 2 million civilian federal employees are union workers. By comparison, only about 6% of private sector workers are unionized.
I’m sure McManus feels justified in giving still another warning about former President Trump’s plans for another term. But in the case of civil service protection, he might have cried wolf once too often.
George Zwerdling, Carpinteria
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To the editor: I very much appreciated McManus’ column in support of the federal civil service.
What Trump calls the “deep state” is really made up of hundreds of thousands of nameless people from all walks of life who provide so many valuable services to the American people. We all rely on the professionalism and even-handedness of these career employees who carry out the mandates of every administration, be it Democratic or Republican, regardless of their personal political beliefs.
But Trump does not value an apolitical approach. He values subservience and is blinded by a retributive outlook that goes beyond partisanship and promises to widen the divides in our nation.
The civil service system represented a triumph over the partiality of the old spoils system, where election winners were expected to reward their supporters with government jobs. It came into being partly as a result of the assassination of President James A. Garfield by a disgruntled office seeker in 1881.
The civil service system, which has served the nation well for more than 100 years, represents a triumph of even-handed government. Trump is a chaos agent and not the right choice for anyone who values professionalism over favor.
Frank Albers, Seal Beach
