Two Americas: One Struggling, One Happy, Unionized, and in Government
-By Warner Todd Huston
I know I’ve said it before, but unionism is antithetical to good government. It is impossible to have both unions and effective government in a democratic republic such as ours. Unions destroy good government, waste money at all levels and they move strictly against the best interests of the voters in all cases. Once again my axiom is shown as a truism with a report by Michael Barone with his Dec. 30 Examiner piece.
Barone details the findings of a recent Rasmussen poll that reveals that Americans that aren’t in government unions and government jobs feel that the economy and the job outlook is getting worse while those in government jobs and unions think everything is going swimmingly.
That isn’t because the government jobs are materially better, but that the government jobs are raiding the public treasury and returning nothing of worth to the country through undue influence on politicians. You might ask why government workers feel things are so good if their jobs provide nothing of worth to the country? Good question. The problem is, even as government jobs are useless to the health, wealth, and welfare of the country, even while government jobs tear us all down and make us weaker in every category, they do provide something of relative worth to politicians: campaign cash.
Barone notes that a large part of the so-called stimulus cash went to governments and those government turned around and handed the cash to public employees unions in order to “save” their unnecessary, make-work jobs. Why do this? Because the unions donate big money back to the politicians that’s why.
The policy aim, Democrats say, was to maintain public services and aid. The political aim, although Democrats don’t say so, was to maintain public-sector jobs — and the flow of union dues to the public employees unions that represent almost 40 percent of public-sector workers.
Those unions in turn have contributed generously to Democrats. Services Employee International Union head Andy Stern, the most frequent nongovernment visitor to the Obama White House, has boasted that his union steered $60 million to Democrats in the 2008 cycle. The total union contribution to Democrats has been estimated at $400 million.
In effect, some significant portion of the stimulus package can be regarded as taxpayer funding of the Democratic Party. Needless to say, no Republicans need apply.
It is an incestuous relationship, certainly. Politicians steal our tax money and give it to public employee unions that do nothing for the nation. In return the unions take some of that tax money and flow it into the coffers of politician’s campaign warchests. Then politicians pass even more union friendly laws that give unions even more tax money. Then the grateful unions give even more to the politicians. Then… well, you can see where this is going and how wrong it is.
And as unions enrich themselves and their political lapdogs, the politicians pass more laws to help their union pals and create ever more useless, needless union jobs so that more union pals can put their cronies in make-work jobs. It’s a great world if you’re part of it. the only people that get screwed are the actually productive members of society (hint: that ain’t union members OR politicians) who are forced to pay the ever growing tab (another hint: that’s YOU and ME!).
Unions should be outlawed for government workers. Period.
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Posted by Warner Todd Huston on December 31, 2009 1:42 pm
» Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-Capitalism, Barack Obama, Congress, Delusional Dupes and DUmmies, Democrats, Earmarks, Economy, Fiscal Responsibility, Government corruption, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, Liberal World, News, State Government, Taxes, Union Mafias/Thugs, liberalism, political opportunism
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One Response to “Two Americas: One Struggling, One Happy, Unionized, and in Government”
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Syndicate Me
As a former public service employee and a union member, I’m going to agree with your premise and disagree with your disgust.
A couple of things to argue here. One- The country needs the public sector, just not as much of one with all the levels of bureaucracy we see now. We need police and lawyers and judges and soldiers. We need all the support groups that make them function efficiently (the key is efficiency). We need them because no private industry can do those jobs without even more corruption and problems occurring.
Two- Unions are necessary for certain jobs. For example, any job that exposes employees to high stress, high danger environments needs controls beyond the goodness of the boss’s heart. But there is a difference between preventing abuse and taking advantage of the business in order to rob it. Unions have gone too far.
The reason I believe certain jobs should offer protections for the employees is certain jobs don’t make money up front for the service but drains the employee’s life so he or she is almost useless. For example, I spent twenty years of my life working for a City police department. Stress, injury, fatigue, limited opportunities for savings or advanced income (Remember we trade all the opportunities of the private sector to give our talents to keeping you safe. If we stay on the right side of the law, we will never make money anywhere near what a private consultant doing the same job would make.)
After twenty years of working the streets, being exposed to violence, drugs, disease, and death, handling all of the dirty laundry you refuse to take care of often even look at, I’m beat. In the last several years my stress level was almost unmanageable, my body was simply giving out. Too many late nights, days without sleep, worrying about cases, ducking bullets and blows, I just wore out. Some guys can handle more, I started later in life so I was finished at fifty-one.
Soldiers are the same way. So are firemen in busy cities. My friend is from Ohio and talked about the rust belt industry and what a man spending twenty years in a steel factory looked like, how he could not close his hands from the injuries suffered from working on the line. How about coal miners working underground for years.
Unions provided a chance for men and women to get out with some money and a future. There is nothing wrong with a fair trade-off. Either that or pay the up front the cost for the protection you get. How much does a private security firm like Blackwater charge a customer? I have a buddy who went to Afghanistan and made ninety dollars tax free an hour. That is what he made at the back end, which means three hundred an hour on the front or more?
My advice is to keep the arguments separate. The fact the politicians and the leaders of certain unions have corrupted each other doesn’t mean the union doesn’t offer a service. The drive to create an overwhelming public sector is also two arguments. We need some, not just on every corner telling us how to live every aspect of our lives.
Balance. And it comes only with sacrifice and self discipline and honesty. That is what is missing.