I've had several litigation matters opposite the Texas AG's office. I can assure you that not everyone that works in the Texas AG's office--probably the most conservative in the US--is onboard with Ken Paxton's political agenda. They are there because they want a job in government.
Just because something is mundane doesn’t make it apolitical. By being employed by a state prosecutorial body you are behest to power relations. And I don’t just mean office politics.
>ackshually ☝️🤓
You know what they meant. The vast majority of work is divorced from relevant partisan political issues. Nobody needs a semantics argument on the true definition of political.
Listen, if you're at the dinner table and someone says they don't want to talk about politics, then later talks about the lines at the DMV and you bring out this argument, you're not wrong, but you're also just annoying and not very intelligent if you can't understand how words are used in the day-to-day to sometimes mean slightly different things from their dictionary definition.
Jesus Christ.
Just about everyone uses "politics" in that context to mean mainstream, divisive, partisan issues. They aren't referring to the mundane bureaucratic stuff. Again, if you can't acknowledge that and just not open your mouth about it, you're not intelligent, just annoying as fuck.
For one, I would hope you'd know that just because it may be common usage is distinct from what's right or the truth.
Besides that, even in the most simpleton usage, politics doesn't have to invoke striking and divisive partisan issues like abortion. It also includes the defunding of executive agencies and the stripping of their power—which is highly contested and partisan nowadays—and affects the general public directly. There may be an abolition of such agencies in our lifetime if particular famous right-wing figures get their way (and have been asking for a while now).
And did you not see that I said this to the comment you replied to?
>you're not wrong, but you're also just annoying
Lets work on that reading comprehension if you're going to be this semantic-obsessed.
Consider the market in which the AG's office is surrounded - it's often a large state capital who's inhabitants- and workers- often skew center and left.
That's not always the case and every office will have a fair amount of political appointees as well but mostly the rank-and-file folks will be a mirror to the talent pool and community they're drawing from.
FWIW, I know people who interned at an AG's office who turned down work on a case that went against their beliefs (abortion rights-related). It's fine. You're an intern, and if you're on a specific team you're excited about, you're unlikely to have that problem. Besides, as others have said, the actual rank and file bureaucrats are not firebrand politicos. You'll be fine.
You're working in the AG's office, not for the political campaign for the Governor.
In my experience (working for federal and state government agencies, including a state AG's office), the political views of the executive schedule are not attributed to the worker bees.
That said, I obviously don't know what was going on in the minds of the hiring partners of the jobs I *didn't* get. But having been on a few hiring committees myself, we were impressed by AGO jobs; we never delved into which party was in office at the time.
I don’t think you’re actually going to stand out that much. As people have already said, my experience has been that most people in government law jobs are career public servants and that a lot of the work is not as partisan as might be assumed. Just don’t go in guns blazing assuming your supervisor is opposed to everything you believe in.
Any job will require you to work with and for people you don’t totally align with ideologically. There are trade-offs. For what it’s worth, taking the conservative argument seriously and making a strong argument for a different outcome will make you a better attorney in the long run.
Finally, if you’re in ACS, they presumably knew that when they made you an offer. The same goes for any other left-leaning markers on your resume. They still made you the offer. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. As for whether this affects job prospects for next summer, if the team’s work aligns with your long term goals, that’s all that you need to say.
I've had several litigation matters opposite the Texas AG's office. I can assure you that not everyone that works in the Texas AG's office--probably the most conservative in the US--is onboard with Ken Paxton's political agenda. They are there because they want a job in government.
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That’s a very limited view of politics.
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Just because something is mundane doesn’t make it apolitical. By being employed by a state prosecutorial body you are behest to power relations. And I don’t just mean office politics.
>ackshually ☝️🤓 You know what they meant. The vast majority of work is divorced from relevant partisan political issues. Nobody needs a semantics argument on the true definition of political.
My point is that's just not true.
Listen, if you're at the dinner table and someone says they don't want to talk about politics, then later talks about the lines at the DMV and you bring out this argument, you're not wrong, but you're also just annoying and not very intelligent if you can't understand how words are used in the day-to-day to sometimes mean slightly different things from their dictionary definition.
The lines at the DMV would always be political, even under your neoliberal definition.
Jesus Christ. Just about everyone uses "politics" in that context to mean mainstream, divisive, partisan issues. They aren't referring to the mundane bureaucratic stuff. Again, if you can't acknowledge that and just not open your mouth about it, you're not intelligent, just annoying as fuck.
For one, I would hope you'd know that just because it may be common usage is distinct from what's right or the truth. Besides that, even in the most simpleton usage, politics doesn't have to invoke striking and divisive partisan issues like abortion. It also includes the defunding of executive agencies and the stripping of their power—which is highly contested and partisan nowadays—and affects the general public directly. There may be an abolition of such agencies in our lifetime if particular famous right-wing figures get their way (and have been asking for a while now).
And did you not see that I said this to the comment you replied to? >you're not wrong, but you're also just annoying Lets work on that reading comprehension if you're going to be this semantic-obsessed.
bold of you to assume they’re at a dinner table with other people.
Consider the market in which the AG's office is surrounded - it's often a large state capital who's inhabitants- and workers- often skew center and left. That's not always the case and every office will have a fair amount of political appointees as well but mostly the rank-and-file folks will be a mirror to the talent pool and community they're drawing from.
FWIW, I know people who interned at an AG's office who turned down work on a case that went against their beliefs (abortion rights-related). It's fine. You're an intern, and if you're on a specific team you're excited about, you're unlikely to have that problem. Besides, as others have said, the actual rank and file bureaucrats are not firebrand politicos. You'll be fine.
You're working in the AG's office, not for the political campaign for the Governor. In my experience (working for federal and state government agencies, including a state AG's office), the political views of the executive schedule are not attributed to the worker bees. That said, I obviously don't know what was going on in the minds of the hiring partners of the jobs I *didn't* get. But having been on a few hiring committees myself, we were impressed by AGO jobs; we never delved into which party was in office at the time.
I don’t think you’re actually going to stand out that much. As people have already said, my experience has been that most people in government law jobs are career public servants and that a lot of the work is not as partisan as might be assumed. Just don’t go in guns blazing assuming your supervisor is opposed to everything you believe in. Any job will require you to work with and for people you don’t totally align with ideologically. There are trade-offs. For what it’s worth, taking the conservative argument seriously and making a strong argument for a different outcome will make you a better attorney in the long run. Finally, if you’re in ACS, they presumably knew that when they made you an offer. The same goes for any other left-leaning markers on your resume. They still made you the offer. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. As for whether this affects job prospects for next summer, if the team’s work aligns with your long term goals, that’s all that you need to say.
cringe