http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2009/12/31/two-americas-one-struggling-one-happy-unionized-and-in-government/
http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/31/democrats-officially-kill-successful-dc-voucher-program/
http://teachersunionexposed.com/nea_overview.cfm
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Teachers-unions-have-contributed-over-13-million-to-ACORN–59179227.html
Stop the ACLU website did a post about how unions are basically bad for the nation especially those inside governmental organizations. The author rightfully fears the growing public sector impacting the shrinking private sector because it could lead to a nation of dominant government influence. As I discovered while reading about communist China (all communist/fascist/socialist nations fall along the same line) and how it structured itself I can see the author’s concern. But as I pointed out to him in a response there is a need for government jobs- police/fire/military/judges/courts but the problem is the amount of them. We have long passed the point where we had a satisfactory framework of supporting agencies that provide necessities for the citizens, i.e. security and a legal system, and have created a monstrosity of bureaucrats and paper pushers that hamper our ability to live a free life. Like humans always do, we’ve gone too far.
Unions provide for the good of the employees as long as the unions stay focused on that issue. As I explained to the author I’m a union member. I understand the need for a line of protection against abuses of the job and the employer. You cannot always depend on the kindheartedness of the boss. If he’s in the private sector he’ll be weighing the need for profit against your needs. History has shown often profit came before even the health and lives of the employees. If he’s in the public sector his desires may focus on budgets and promotions and not on the welfare of his subordinates. However, when the unions stop focusing on providing a good and fair work environment for their members and instead get into bed with politicians in a plot to fleece both the business and the public, we have a problem. This has been going on for years. Unions give money and votes to politicians who turn around and pass laws that makes the union rich, so it can give money to politicians…yada, yada, yada. In the criminal world, we call this money laundering. It’s actually a crime and over the years a bunch of people have gone to jail for a long time for it. Several of the links put in the post show where the money is going. I’m sure a good deal of the members of the NEA are unaware where most of their money is going and those that do can’t stop it. However, it doesn’t make a difference, bad choices are just that- bad choices, and you can see from the recipients of the funds where the loyalties of the leaders in the NEA lie.
If the money changing hands were the only aspect of this, I’d could really care less outside disliking crooks (but who isn’t one in this day and age in D.C., for example Ben Nelson and Mary “it was 300 million!” Landrieu). But nothing operates in a vacuum and somebody always suffers in the end for the greed of both parties. In one case, the D.C. voucher system just killed off by the democrats, the people suffering have faces and names. They are the three thousand kids that are now back in the worst public school system in America, their hopes and dreams of being educated and given a better chance at living a good life dashed by greed and spite. Here the statement from the supporters of the school voucher program:
The leaders of D.C.’s school choice movement, Kevin P. Chavous (former D.C. Councilman) and Virginia Walden Ford (executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice), today issued the following statement:
“House and Senate Appropriators this week ignored the wishes of D.C.’s mayor, D.C.’s public schools chancellor, a majority of D.C.’s city council, and more than 70 percent of D.C. residents and have mandated the slow death of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. This successful school voucher program-for D.C.’s poorest families-has allowed more than 3,300 children to attend the best schools they have ever known.
The decision to end the program, a decision buried in a thousand-page spending bill and announced right before the holidays, destroys the hopes and dreams of thousands of D.C. families. Parents and children have rallied countless times over the past year in support of reauthorization and in favor of strengthening the OSP.
This is what the author at Stoptheaclu is talking about. Once government unions get entrenched to the point they can demand or bribe lawmakers into passing laws eliminating competition we are, as we said back in the day “in the sh*t now.” Many people don’t really understand the dangers behind having almost every job unionized or controlled by the government. In Mao’s China during the 1960’s he launched his “Great Cultural Revolution” and one of the tools he employed was driving enemies from their places of employment which were all controlled by the government. In many cases these men and women were not only driven from their jobs, but their property was seized and they were made homeless. A lot of them committed suicide because there was no hope. Understand, it’s not like you are working at Wendy’s and get mad, quit and then get a job a Taco Bell. You leave or get fired from Wendy’s you are done. No money, no food, no status, no home, nothing. There was very little in the way of “private” business in China, and those who had it were constantly harassed as being against Mao’s thought and were accused as counterrevolutionaries.
The point here is that any power concentrated into one place is bad. The power being concentrated into government and unions is worse than bad, it can be catastrophic. The key here is balance. Somewhere between protecting the coal miner or the police officer or the steel worker from being exposed to unnecessary harm and demanding ultimate control of business there has to be a balance struck. Unfortunately, as long as we allow the money laundering to continue there will be too much greed and too much temptation for humans to resist. Add to that their desire to keep their failings hidden (the public school systems in major cities are horrible for doing this) so their jobs secure and you get a recipe for failure no child can survive.
