Editor's note: All opinions, columns and letters reflect the views of the individual writer and not necessarily those of the IDS or its staffers.
Millions of dedicated civil servants have been demonized by the new Trump administration and have been referred to as the deep state, villains, and unproductive. This includes many fellow students including me who gave cave tours and ran a visitor center at a small National Monument the past two summers. My good friends and I are not looking to become rich while working as federal employees and we certainly are not trying to waste people’s time and money. We are dedicated public servants who are passionate about serving the American people in a variety of roles such as geologic research, volcano monitoring, educating the public, and enforcing rules in National Parks.
Every one of our livelihoods is in danger though, and it is to the detriment of the people we serve. Many of my friends will lose their jobs over the next few days and many more of my friends, myself included, lost their jobs before they even began. As a result, critical functions are in danger of not being carried out. Warning signs for volcanoes could be missed as faulty equipment fails to be repaired. Cave exploration and research will cease to happen, limiting our understanding of geologic history. Americans will visit our National Parks only to be met with closed visitor centers and limited services. This is just the tip of the iceberg though, only the impact felt by the mass firing of people I know. Imagine what the impact of all the people I do not know will be.
It is easy to imagine nameless, faceless bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. as the source of our problems, but that could not be further from the truth. Many public servants faithfully execute the laws put forth by our leaders — even the ones we do not like. Many public servants go to work each day trying to improve the lives of Americans by investigating harmful financial, workplace, and environmental activities.
By attacking the federal workforce, firing us, and bullying us into quitting, the Trump Administration is trying to make the American peoples’ lives worse. The things we all take for granted like safe food, Social Security, clean drinking water, and so much more are in danger. Civil servants are not the enemy, they are your friends, neighbors, and classmates. We want to work every day to make the United States as great as it can be, and it will be all our collective loss if this administration manages to push us out.
Conner Wright (he/him) is a senior studying Public Policy Analysis.
