For a long time we've been told, and most of us now mistakenly believe,
that we live beyond our means and the honeymoon is over. It's now time
that we tighten our belts. State employees are portrayed as people
living off the system and it's time to cut them all back. Workers are
told that the pensions they've been promised over decades of service
are a luxury we can no longer afford.
We're told that the money spent on education is now a luxury and will
have to be cut back. We're told that the social programs protecting
vulnerable Vermonters will have to be stopped or drastically cut as if
the programs were instituted not because of need but because there
happened to be a pile of money hanging around.
Rarely do you hear about the past 30 years of deregulation and greed
which is the real reason for our economic mess. It's not because a
state worker receives a living wage. It's not because our towns happen
to think the education of their children is a priority.
It's time for workers to stand up and stop taking the blame because of
the greed of corporations and the politicians who are in their pockets.
It's time to stop the race to the bottom and maybe it can start by a
"no" vote by the state employees.
Ross Laffan
Rochester
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