NASA: home to the privileged and perfect

Timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, NASA employees and many of their supporters gathered yesterday for protests, demanding that their jobs be saved and that Congress not only cancel Trump’s proposed budget cuts to NASA, that Congress even consider increasing the budget because the work they do is so so SO vital.

The protests appeared to be organized by several groups, all claiming to be “grassroots” but all seeming to be well funded and comparable to other recent government protest groups at other agencies, issuing sanctimonious “declarations” that claim the cuts “to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security.”

Yet, the Trump cuts would only reduce NASA’s staffing of 17,000 by about 2,600 employees. How horrible!

This quote from the first link above is typical of the attitude of these government workers:

Morale at facilities like NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland has plummeted. One scientist who attended the June 30 demonstration works as a postdoc at Goddard, through a contractor, on the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, and told Space.com the past few years at NASA have been their “absolute dream job.”

“I love it,” said the Goddard scientist, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. “And this year has been an utter nightmare that has not stopped since January.” [emphasis mine]

All in all, this person’s words distills these complaints down to the basics: “I have a great job and it is unfair that anyone should ever consider canceling it! It should be mine for life!”

None of these protesters or declarations ever propose any alternative suggestions for gaining some control over the federal deficit. None propose ways to streamline and make more efficient the operations at NASA, which in recent years has been routinely ill-managed and wasteful. All seem to think that the work these government workers do is blessed by God, and anyone who dares suggest any changes or staffing reductions are worse than the devil, and should fry in hell!

Meanwhile, did you hear any similar whines coming from the 9,000 or so Microsoft employees the company announced in early July that it will lay off in the coming months? Nope. Those Microsoft employees — like all workers in the private sector — recognized that no job is permanent, that circumstances change, and that the company has the right and financial need to make these changes to survive. If you get fired or laid off, there is always more work. You just need to roll up your sleeves and go out and find it.

Chicken Little rules!

For government employees, however, it appears this idea is beyond horrifying. How dare Trump tell them to look for new jobs! They work for the federal government! No one is ever supposed to fire them!

Personally I am quite tired of these political tantrums. I also suspect that a majority of Americans feel the same way. For decades no cuts to any government program have been permitted, because every time someone in office has even hinted at such cuts, this kabuki theater of protests would rise up, screaming that to lay off even one government worker would cause the sky to fall!

Yet, there is room for cuts at NASA, just as there is room for cuts in every federal department. Trump’s proposed budget is not madness. Though there is definitely room for debate and some of his proposed cuts appear penny wise and pound foolish, overall the proposed budget is remarkably reasonable. A line-by-line review reveals that it tries hard to streamline operations, reduce duplicate efforts, and focus spending on NASA’s core mission, to explore space.

Trump’s cuts deserve a fair hearing. Unfortunately, the whines of government workers is apparently preventing that from happening, as our corrupt Congress is far more willing to give treats to these spoiled children than serve the American taxpayer who pays the bills.

And so civilization falls.