Over the next few weeks, U.S. civil servants will spend the holidays wrestling with a tough choice: Stay in your jobs and work for a president who openly disdains you and might try to fire you — or quit. I have already heard from many of you who would rather try your luck on the job market than wait for President-elect Donald Trump’s promised purge.
I am asking you — pleading with you: stay. Your decision isn’t just about your career, or a single president. It’s part of a larger war, one waged throughout American history, over what the federal government can and should be: Is it an apolitical source of expertise and professionalism, or is it a partisan weapon for presidents to use for their own political or economic ends? Now, with Trump and his allies setting civil servants in their sights, we risk backsliding to an earlier time, when cronyism reigned — and Americans suffered. By staying in your position as long as you can, you can defend the work of our democracy.
