The rising intensity of political debate in recent years and this fall's wave of OCCUPY protests nationwide have created unique challenges for public sector employers. Employers are used to responding to mainstream political disputes in the workplace with the time-tested standby: "Republican or Democrat, it makes no difference, and please just go back to work." But now public employers have to contend with a different political landscape, a different level of emotional involvement by employees, and entirely new political causes. One such cause is the Tea Party movement, one of whose central tenets is the need for a sharp decrease in government spending and in the overall role of public agencies themselves. Second, on a different axis, the new OCCUPY movement attacks the private sector's supposed excessive role in government. This is at least the purpose as articulated by some of the movement's endorsers, such as film maker Michael Moore, former
New York Times writer Christopher Hedges (who quotes literary figures like Albert Camus and W.B. Yeats in support of his economic arguments), and even Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig (in his new book "Republic, Lost"). Significantly, although the OCCUPY target for reform is the private sector, it is clear the public sector has had to bear the brunt of its physical effects. The tents and protests are typically on public property, with City police forces having to dedicate substantial resources to watching out for and responding to any disturbances, and in a few cases to taking even more drastic action.
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