[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 75 (Monday, May 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6239-S6240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


      IN SUPPORT OF OUR NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS, THE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for the last two decades, our Federal 
employees seem to be handy scapegoats for anything that goes wrong with 
Government. Whenever anyone on this floor mentions ``those Federal 
bureaucrats,'' the syntax is generally pejorative and the reference, 
unflattering. The collective term ``bureaucracy'' is uttered in the 
same tone of revulsion reserved for former leaders of the ``evil 
empire.''
  So it was refreshing to read an editorial in last Saturday's Times-
Argus, which serves our State capital of Montpelier, VT.
  The editorial simply reminds us that many victims of the Oklahoma 
City bomb explosion were ``our friends, neighbors, brothers, and 
sisters who work for the Federal Government.''
  It seems to needful reminder in these times to be a little more 
respectful of the effort we get every day from millions of these men 
and women who work for us in every capacity, from guarding our national 
security to protecting our rights as citizens, from fighting crime to 
enforcing public health and safety standards, from exploring space to 
cleaning up our air and water here on Earth.
  I ask that this editorial be reprinted in the Congressional Record. I 
am not suggesting that criticism of Government operations is off 
limits. I am only asking that it be fair. The hundreds of Federal 
workers in my State of Vermont, are among the most dedicated and hard 
working men and women, in public or private life, in our country. Let 
us stop careless impugning of their professional integrity.
  There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:
                  [From the Times Argus, May 6, 1995]

                           Neighbors, Friends

       One of the results of the bombing attack on the federal 
     building in Oklahoma City has been to put a human face on the 
     entity known as the ``federal government.''
       The people whose job it was to hand out Social Security 
     checks, to enforce the laws about drugs and firearms, or to 
     recruit people for the military were the neighbors, friends, 
     brothers, sisters of the people of Oklahoma City.
       In Vermont the federal government consists of Forest 
     Service rangers and office workers, agriculture specialists, 
     the Marine recruiter, the Social Security workers, the court 
     personnel and others who live every day among us. These are 
     our neighbors, friends, brothers, sisters.
       And yet to hear the more virulent strains of attack 
     emanating from anti-government extremists, these people are 
     an exotic combination of Nazi, Communist and Genghis Khan.
       A Colorado talk show host, responding to a caller who 
     thought it was a good idea to shoot members of Congress, 
     advocated ``armed revolution.''
       A talk show host in Arizona suggested that Sarah Brady, the 
     gun control advocate and wife of President Reagan's former 
     press secretary, ought to be ``put down'' the way a 
     veterinarian puts down a lame horse.
       And, of course, the advice of Watergate burglar G. Gordon 
     Liddy to shoot for the head when confronted by federal agents 
     has become a famous example of the antigovernment rhetoric 
     that has become so common.
       Imagine for a moment that it was the Rev. Jesse Jackson or 
     Ralph Nader or Patricia Ireland who was advising people to 
     shoot government workers. Would conservatives hesitate for a 
     moment in pointing out that such violent language may be less 
     than conducive to the good of the public weal? Yet when 
     President Clinton made the rather tentative suggestion that 
     this language was really not so helpful, media incidiarists 
     whined that they were being unfairly attacked.
       Back in the 1960s anti-war dissenters, black power 
     advocates, and other dissatisfied souls said a lot of stupid 
     things that embarrassed even those who opposed the war or 
     supported the civil rights struggle. Talk then of armed 
     revolution was a naive delusion that was taken all too 
     seriously by a few people, who sometimes ended up getting 
     innocent people killed.
       A lot of stupid things are being said again about our 
     friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters who work for the 
     federal government. In the West, there are soreheads with a 
     grievance about the way the federal government manages public 
     lands who are preventing federal workers from doing their 
     jobs.
       Everybody ought to remember that federal lands in the West 
     do not belong only to the people who live there. They belong 
     to all of us. We have people working for us to manage our 
     lands. And people who don't like the way they are being 
     managed have a democratic process to avail themselves of to 
     change things.
       It wasn't true in the 1960s, and it isn't true now: Our 
     government is not a dictatorship, and armed revolution is not 
     justifiable. The government in Oklahoma, in Boise or in 
     Montpelier consists of our friends, neighbors, brothers and 
     sisters, who, like the rest of us, are not always right about 
     everything they do. But that's the great thing about 
     democracy: We have peaceful methods for making 
     [[Page S6240]] changes. We also have the duty to hold 
     accountable those who break the law in an effort to attack 
     our system.
     

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