Having Courage Earns a Pink Slip

While every administration has its casualties, the current lot in the White House have made expulsion, vindictiveness, and just general payback the hallmark of their operations. It's very clear that dissent is never brooked from any quarter; and the numbers of people whose careers are destroyed, limited, or otherwise tarnished are adding up. Here's just a small list of people who have found themselves in Smirk, Scowl & Co's doghouse. Some of the more familiar names are General Eric Shinseki, Richard Clarke, and Paul O'Neill, but people like John Carlin and Joanne Wilson have been forced out too-- people who have had careers in government and public service, and were summarily tossed out or trodden upon. When 60 percent of the federal workforce is approaching retirement eligibility in the next few years, it's disheartening to see people like this treated so shabbily-- that their opinions, their principles, and the obligations they tried to follow were trashed.

Let's hope this trend is limited to this particular "administration," and does not sink roots in Beltway culture- or we are going to pay a price down the road.