When I was a kid (yes, when a tablet device was an Etch A Sketch) my Dad advised me to get a job with AT&T or Edison or the government. Why? Because they would be around forever and it’s nearly impossible to get fired, especially as a civil service or union member.

Fast forward 30-some years only to find out he was absolutely correct.

Take a look at the group of IRS individuals a few years back who spent millions of your tax dollars flying around, checking out pricey resort-like places to have “business retreats.” Why can’t I have that job?

Then there was the $17,000 for a keynote speaker to teach them about customer service, how to speak with people and – wait, no, that’s not right. The keynote speaker was actually a painter of “unique pictures” like Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon – no,wait, wrong again. He painted pictures of Michael Jordan, Bono, Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln, to name a few. Can you see where this would help a tax auditor? Me neither.

They spent $50,000 on video parodies of “Star Trek” and a total of $49 million over two years on “conferences.” A few years back at an IRS Anaheim conference, more than 2,600 IRS employees were brought in to discuss small business and self-employed audit procedures. The cost? We don’t know, because the agency that requires us to keep every receipt apparently was not tracking all of the costs associated with these events until U.S. Rep. Darrel Issa uncovered it.

No scandal here. Just keep going. Not one person lost a job (the key word being “a”).

You see, when you’re a loyalist to the party – and by that I mean the American Union of Socialist Democratic Communists – they simply move you laterally to a new division or department or send you home with pay until everyone goes back to sleep.

And then we have Benghazi. Where to start? The initial lie? The lack of support on the ground? The lack of backup support? The men and women who were told they could not testify to Congress? Our Secretary of State lied to us. Military officers lied to us. White House staff lied to us. And, as seen in recent emails received from the White House by court order (so much for the most transparent administration in history), no one has lost their job. NO ONE. Four men have lost their lives.

Well, no big deal, right? Americans will forget, and the party will be saved.

Then there’s Fast and Furious. Lost Jobs, 0. Lost lives, “priceless.” I say that because the same government that wants to track the healthcare needs of millions and millions of Americans can’t track a few hundred guns. They can’t confess to the fact that it got out of control and Americans died because of it. They roll with, “Bush lied, people died,” but nothing about the reality of those in the current administration who keep killing Americans.

Oh, and remember, these guys who want to watch over healthcare are watching over our precious veterans and other national concerns. They treat them the same way they treated Americans in Benghazi, American taxpaying landowners along the borders, and Hurricane Sandy victims. All hung out to dry. They knowingly allow our vets to die because of lack of treatment, and we’re expected to trust our children’s healthcare to them? Fat chance. Still, no one fired.

The EPA – the guys who apparently have more power than the president of these American Union of Socialist Democratic Communists States, formerly known as the United States – don’t even have to show up to get paid. According to a recent report:

One EPA official watched an average of two to six hours of porn per day. It gets better. Another EPA official has not reported to work for years, yet he’s still being paid. Another employee pretended to be working for the CIA while he was working for the EPA. He, too, rarely came to work, claiming he was doing stuff for the CIA. And the EPA paid numerous phony travel vouchers for the fake CIA guy. Not so surprisingly, the Office of the Inspector General claims the EPA is not cooperating with its investigation. Did he really think they would?

And who has been fired? No one.

But there is hope. You actually can get the government to fire you. How, you ask? Just bring your Bible to work and read it. Steal hundreds of thousands of dollars and you get a lateral transfer. Lie to the public, get a lateral transfer. Bring your Bible to work, get tagged as a Christian who adheres to basic Biblical principle and you get suspended and potentially fired – as has happened with some teachers for standing for their freedom-of-religion rights.

A health director for the city of Pasadena was put on leave after they found he had made some controversial comments about homosexuality, abortion, evolution and other subjects. How dare he. Even though he has implemented many programs that helped employees and the LGBTQ community in Pasadena and has had great work ethic throughout his many years of service with coworkers reporting no problems, issues or objections to working with him. Still his comments are intolerable. What were they?

Seems the man is a Seventh Day Adventist preacher. I believe they knew this all along. Preachers and others sold out to their religion usually talk about it. But some staff watched a few of his sermons online and felt he had no business working for a government agency holding those viewpoints. After all those years?

We are in so much trouble, people. When allowing Americans to be killed, when wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, and when lying to Americans is acceptable conduct – but sticking by your religious convictions may be grounds to be fired – it is proof positive that we have strayed far from what our founding fathers wanted.

Joe Messina is host of The Real Side (TheRealSide.com), a nationally syndicated talk show that runs on AM-1220 KHTS radio and SCVTV [here]. He is also the current president of the Hart School Board. His commentary publishes Mondays.