Brownback Derangement Syndrome Rears Its Head

Some days, the liberals go off the rails for no apparent reason at all. Call it a case of Brownback Derangement Syndrome. If you suffer from BDS, please seek medical help. It's a serious illness that can affect your ability to reason and use logic. 

Yesterday, state officials said they are working to overhaul state employee layoff protocol.

Specifically, the changes would allow layoffs to be done based on performance rather than seniority. Cue screaming of the liberals. 

Officials said the effort was designed to bring the state's workforce rules into this century. Of course, the mainstream media reported that it was all an urgent attempt to prepare for restructuring in the face of budget problems, and the Kansas Organization of State Employees signed up to agree with the theory. They worry the changes will hurt employee morale.

Rep. Jim Ward, Dem, tweeted, "Brownback proposes to reverse 50 years of professionalism in state employment. Fraud and incompetence to follow."

This is insanity. This is EXACTLY how most of the private sector operates. And I note, the private sector doesn't have a monopoly. Performance is used to determine who stays and who goes. Is it perfect? Of course not. But there is recourse for those who are wrongfully terminated by those measures.

Laying people off based solely on seniority gives some employees almost absolute job security. There's no motivation to perform well. That's not saying the senior employees won't perform as well as their less experienced peers, but motivation is a tricky thing. Public policy should take human nature into consideration. 

Of course, liberals are worried that the changes will hurt employee morale. I don't know how great employee morale is when lay offs are pending--no matter how the layoffs occur. 

Liberals are always running through the forest banging into the trees. This policy change is a good thing--one that most reasonable people can agree on. It isn't political. The liberals, however, can't separate their hate from Brownback from policy.

Meanwhile, many liberals have a problem with thinning the bureaucratic herd, and so their ire is misdirected at policy. Here's the deal, though: If there isn't enough money, there isn't enough money. I don't think there's a tax increase possible that would ever make the liberals happy, and that's where we're at: Kansans must decide whether they want bureaucrats to live fat and happy, or whether taxpayers should have a few scraps left over at the end of each bill cycle to feed, clothe, and shelter their families.

The legislature will have a large say in the decision. It's not Brownback's alone to make. 

The people calling foul on this one are clearly suffering from BDS. Take a pill, folks.