The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
When our nation has been tested by a massive, national challenge, there have always been Americans whose everyday jobs have come to the fore. Their work has proven critical to addressing the challenge and eventually returning our nation to normal.
They are the people who Mr. Rogers talked about when he said, βMy mother would say to me, βLook for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.ββ
Today, those everyday jobs belong to the heroes honored by so many cities every night: our first responders, military, doctors, hospital workers and those men and women in the service industries who return to work day after day, despite incredible risk to their health.
While we celebrate the people on the front lines of our war against COVID-19, itβs important to remember that another group of workers are also working tirelessly to steer the nation back to normal: our government civil servants.
Whether it was when I was working for Arizona in Congress, or as a board member with the Association of Former Members of Congress, Iβve recognized how critical public servants are to our nation, and its work. Iβve had an opportunity to talk to my colleagues during this crisis. We all know the same is true now.
"We're tough as saguaros," editorial cartoonist David Fitzsimmons says. He says he saw a video made for the people of Detroit and became inspired to do his own take for Tucson.
The federal government, in cooperation with states and cities, has gone to great lengths to protect our economy, beginning with four pieces of major bipartisan legislation, passed by Congress, that have spent a record sum on stabilizing the economy, protecting businesses large and small, and putting money directly into the bank accounts of our citizens for the first time in the history of our nation.
Administering this universe of economic stabilization programs are the civil servants at the Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury, and throughout government, all around our nation. For many of them, it means a brand new job, learned overnight, many from the confines of their homes, which are, not surprisingly, ill-equipped to run a country of 330 million citizens.
It is the staff of government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and the men and women at FEMA, who will keep the doctors and hospitals solvent and supplied during this medical crisis.
As our economy reopens, the government must be prepared to assist small and medium-sized businesses, and ensure that they comply with the best medical practices recommended by the researchers and administrators of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, federal agencies that have been critical in our battle against COVID-19.
Finally, when America is open again, our most visible government civil servants wonβt be in the federal government. They will be the men and women in the classrooms, who will greet our children when they return to school, and the construction workers, sanitation workers and public health professionals who have kept our infrastructure running while weβve been stuck at home.
Americans have always had a love-hate relationship with our government. In times of crisis though, the safety net we all turn to is government. It was built by our fellow citizens, who are working as hard as they can to move our country forward.
As voters, itβs our responsibility to ask those who are in charge of our government to do better. Now though, more than ever, after we praise and thank those on the front lines, letβs also take a moment to thank those who do the everyday jobs that keep our country working, for the hard work they do, and the hard work that is to come.
