Comment by blamazon

The uneven comparison is sort of the point: If air traffic controllers are so essential to the country's operation, why didn't the Reagan administration just avoid the strike by giving them what they wanted, like he was able to get personally in 1960? Is the idea that we can only give non-essential workers what they want (because they have the luxury of striking and not screwing over the country) and everyone else can get bent? That's the idea that's nonsensical to me and discordant between Reagan the actor and Reagan the president.