Shut Your Hatch

With a new administration coming in, us Foreign Service Officers are beset -from within and without - with questions about our opinions. How do we feel about Trump? Will we all quit en masse? What about the wall etc. etc.

Well, it turns out there's a thing called the Hatch Act. Passed in 1939, this is a law which restricts employees of the Executive Branch from engaging in certain political activities.

The origins of the Act are hardly noble - it grew out of opposition to the New Deal - but it certainly makes sense to try and prevent public officials from becoming instruments of partisanship.

In practice, of course, things are a little murkier.  Plenty of my colleagues maintain a social media presence and it doesn't take a crystal ball to divine their opinions.  But the question is - at what point do one's private opinions became a matter of public concern? I favor less control, not more. I'd rather people be allowed to voice their opinions, even if embarrasses the administration.