Don't say it. Don't denigrate people you don't even know.

Non-essential government employees.

There is a phrase I would like to see go by the wayside.

First, in a democracy, things are determined in a group setting.  In this case, the Congress of the United States. There are many interests involved in the decision making process. Everyone has an agenda. One persons essential activity is another persons waste of government money. But to label a group of people non-essential denigrates that group. Congress, in their finite wisdom, has determined this group of government employees to be useful and needed by the country.

Government money is being spent to do research on honeybees in France, and a Presidential candidate in 2008 thought it was horrible that taxpayer money was going to such a waste. It doesn't matter that somebody is doing research on honeybees in France. Somewhere along the line it was determined that in researching the cause of colony collapse disorder in the US, it might be necessary to see what is happening to honeybees on their native turf. Knowledge and lessons learned in France can provide clues to the problem here in the US. Many crops are dependent on honey bees for pollination. So, it was determined to spend money, hard earned taxpayer money, on researching the cause of the decline of honeybees.

A person working for the government on the cause of colony collapse in honeybees should not be called a non-essential government employee. Somewhere, somebody decided it was necessary for the good of the country, for the good of the people, to research honeybees. Your food, my food, depends on honeybees.  Non-essential, my foot!

There are derogatory names for all sorts of different groups of people. I won't list them. Go to any middle school playground and you will most likely hear some of those names.

Usually, we grow out of calling people names. It is time for the people using the phrase "non-essential government employee" to recognize that this is a demeaning, derogatory and insulting phrase to many of the 800,000 federal employees who are currently out of work, no fault of their own.

Exactly how would you feel if you were labeled "non-essential?"

You are a loser. You are a slacker. You are a second-class citizen.

It is not a good feeling. There are a lot of hard working, conscientious employees of the government of the United States. Don't denigrate them!