IT
You're in government service as a programmer, computer operator or repairer, or data entry person. You're vital to its operation and you do good work. What can be dishonest about that?
Nothing in itself, of course, and nothing here suggests otherwise. The problem, as shown in the Mafia comparison page, is firstly that your salary is being paid out of stolen money, and then that the end-result of your employer's work is deeply damaging to society. You are responsible for enabling him to produce that damage. Without the smooth operation of your software, he could not confiscate half of what everyone earns, nor distribute the loot to his friends rich and poor, nor guide his missiles to destroy his enemies, nor even run the logistics of withdrawing his soldiers from another failed war. You are integral to all he does.
Progressively in the last half century and especially since the mid-1990s, along with commercial firms government has made itself ever more heavily dependent on work like yours. When computers go down, everything goes down. To reverse that (to return to the clerical basis of the 1950s) is a practical impossibility. That means your ethical responsibility is particularly heavy. So please take some time to consider the proposition that you are propping up a profoundly destructive entity; that Mafia page is a fair place to start, but is only an introduction.
To "govern" is for one person to impose his will upon other(s). This violates the absolute right of every human being to decide for himself how he shall operate his own life. This is the fundamental flaw behind the whole theory of government; this is the "garbage in" which inevitably produces the "garbage out." The marvel of government is not that it produces chaos, misery, poverty and death, but that it ever produces anything useful at all. When an individual steals the property of another under threat of force, or by deceit, he is governing that person - over-ruling that victim's own will. When a man rapes a woman, he is imposing his will on hers - governing her. When a voter pulls a lever (or punches a chad!) he is asking a politician to enforce his wishes on his neighbor - for example, to pay for his childrens' education, or for his health care; he is attempting to govern that neighbor. The entire political system, from top to bottom, is based on the utterly false premise that one person can validly rule - govern - another.
For that reason, and acknowledging that "government" is a term that includes private force as well as the far more prevalent public, political force, government can be recognized as the source of all evil in the world; a point explored in this article. The essentially evil nature of government was noted openly by one of America's founders - Thomas Paine - in his seminal "Common Sense"; his astounding mistake was to suppose in the very same sentence that anything evil can possibly also be "necessary." If that were true, the human race would be doomed. But it's not. The alleged necessity of government is completely false - and is never preached more vigorously than by those sucking at the public teat.
Of whom, dear IT friend, at present you are one. Please, consider changing that.
At the foot of this page there are links to two books, which will help. Larken Rose's The Most Dangerous Superstition relentlessly demolishes the widespread myth that government has any valid moral authority over anybody, while Jim Davies' A Vision of Liberty describes what society will probably be like after government has disappeared - hence completely removing Paine's absurd assertion that it is "necessary." Order them both! - they are life-changers. And after you return from this page to the Home one, please follow the final link it offers - the "last stop on your tour." It leads to a mini-site that expands on what you've just been reading.
The moral or ethical imperative for quitting your government job is powerful, and after reflecting on those books and web pages you will see it clearly. There is however another reason to quit, possibly stronger yet: continuing to support an evil organization destroys your self-respect. Self-esteem is a vital part of life. We all need a purpose, a raison d'être, a way to feel pride in what we have been able to accomplish, a basis for ambition to achieve more in future.
Working for government undermines your basis for self-esteem. Make a clean break; offer your skills elsewhere. Get an honest job - even if at first you have to take a pay cut. You'll not regret it; at life's end you will look back in pride and pleasure, and be able to say, "I helped build that!"
