printBy the look and sound of the striking educators on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin (here), the kids (plenty stupid in their own right), are not missing much. Chaos theory aside, the public sector was never supposed to be able to strike; that’s a later socialistic privilege they were granted (See “Regulation of unions and organizing.”) The absence of these coercive cretins in the classroom is no loss. Still, The government education cartel should not be permitted to hold taxpayers hostage. Collective bargaining in general ought to be outlawed unless workers and employers are free to associate and dissociate from one another at will. Otherwise, it’s extortion. Here, the monopolist has, in effect, the right to shake down the taxpayer, who has no recourse; cannot opt out of the abusive relationship, or protect himself from the extortionist.
THIS IS THE LAW OF RULE, NOT THE RULE OF LAW.
(To clarify: The only true monopolies are government monopolies. A company is a monopoly only when it can forcibly prohibit competitors from entering the market, a feat only ever made possible by state edict. In the free market, competition makes monopoly impossible. A large market share is not a monopoly.)
I would have no objection to unions were they voluntary, non-coercive associations that looked out for the needs of workers without trampling the rights of other non-aggressive parties.
While we’re meting justice (in theory, at least), government employees, politicians included, should not be allowed to vote. This is because they are paid from taxes garnished by force from taxpayers, and will always vote to increase their own powers and wages. They have always so voted! The other option is that they keep the vote and accept volunteer, unpaid status.
The moochers and the looters are upon us. Moochers “will claim your product by tears” and manipulation. The rioters among them will “take [your product] from you by force.” Both versions have been loosed upon us.
During the Greek wilding, I warned (as many others) that it was a minor event compared to the events that’ll unfold should we quit funding our federal behemoth’s bacchanalia. The sound and fury of the American public sector unions is going to be like Tyrannosaurus (T-Rex) tearing through Jurassic Park.
UPDATE I: Obama waded right into the affairs of Wisconsin, stating superciliously that “the new Republican governor, Scott Walker, [was] launching an ‘assault’ on unions with his emergency legislation aimed at cutting the state budget.” Obama had once before meddled in a state’s affair and was badly burned. Remember the case of the bad ass, race-baiting Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr.? BHO’s full-throated reaction in that case was in his capacity as the president of Black America (“the Cambridge police acted stupidly,” he asserted, “in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.”)
But Barack wears many hats. And today, he responded to the “oink sector” strike in Madison, Wisconsin, as a union man, a man beholden to “Organizing for America, the successor to President’s Obama’s 2008 campaign organization. It helped fill buses of protesters who flooded the state capital of Madison and ran 15 phone banks urging people to call state legislators.”
UPDATE II (Feb. 20): Larry Kudlow on a “European-style revolt”:
The Democratic/government-union days of rage in Madison, Wis., are a disgrace. Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan calls it Cairo coming to Madison. But the protesters in Egypt were pro-democracy. The government-union protesters in Madison are anti-democracy; they are trying to prevent a vote in the legislature. In fact, Democratic legislators themselves are fleeing the state so as not to vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget cuts.
That’s not democracy.
The teachers’ union is going on strike in Milwaukee and elsewhere. They ought to be fired. Think Ronald Reagan PATCO in 1981. Think Calvin Coolidge police strike in 1919.
The teachers’ union on strike? Wisconsin parents should go on strike against the teachers’ union. A friend e-mailed me to say that the graduation rate in Milwaukee public schools is 46 percent. The graduation rate for African-Americans in Milwaukee public schools is 34 percent. Shouldn’t somebody be protesting that?
UPDATE III (Feb, 22): PEW AND THE PUBLIC. Pew Research cautions that “it is not clear whether the public nationally will support Wisconsin Republicans’ efforts to prevent government workers from unionizing. In the Pew Research survey, which was conducted before the Wisconsin protests drew national headlines, people were asked for their reaction when they hear of a disagreement between a labor union and a state or local government: 44% say that when they hear of such a dispute they side with the unions while 38% say they side with the governments.”
This, even though “organized labor is in a much weaker position today than it was during the air traffic controllers’ strike.” Back in August of 1981, the public solidly supported Reagan’s “reaction to the PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization).” He fired the controllers, and banned the government from ever rehiring them.
Here are Reagan’s memorable remarks on the air traffic controllers’ strike. Note this president’s clear reference to the burden the oink sector imposes on its fellow citizen; notice his allusion to the government’s monopolist position. Reagan was capable of clearly articulating the principles of freedom, and, in this case, he also acted on these principles.
Fire Wisconsin’s government employees.
The massive corruption practiced by those in charge of the public interests has finally become irredeemable; it’s collapsing! The whole system is an illusion! What’s more fascinating are the “victims” expectations of a resolution. Both sides lived lies; both sides expect the other to yield. Maybe once the “victims” realize that there are no funds to implement their delusions and accept their demotion to the new norm, they’ll stop their cynical support for political gangsters.
Russia survived a traumatic change in their political structure and so will the US. The question is: What will the US become?
I remember some historian suggested that a society has two phases: Culture and Civilization. The Culture phase is dynamic and robust; the Civilized phase is in essence the denouement (the chickens coming to roost) where the government becomes subjective and wallows in it’s own waste.
Early in the 20th Century US society moved from being objective to being directed, for example, by the likes of Woodrow Wilson an intellectual progressive, Tristan Tsara and his Dada Manifesto, greedy financial barons, and last but not least, the chemistry inherent in the inevitable 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
It seems that the US is in for some exciting times.
Have a nice day.
Two thoughts:
(1) The Jeffersonian concept of government is to PROTECT OUR RIGHTS – hence any service that is not police/courts/defense should not be a governmental monopoly. Education, transportation, and other “services” should not be a monopoly.
(2) Probably the finest legacy of Ronald Reagan was against the monopolistic OINKers of the PATCO in the August 1981 Strike. Governors and mayors and other Presidents all caved in to Union demands but Reagan fired them all and told them not to slam the door on the way out!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)
and THAT is what needs to be done – and the problem will be mitigated by having workers performing to market standards at market rates and market compensations.
Yep firing the PATCO patsies was the best thing Ronnie did !
What really gets me is that when it’s a Conservative protest, like the TEA Party, the people take time off the job, come on their day off, pay their own way. But- if it is a Democrat ‘protest’ Buses are rented, people (rabble) are paid to come march. For some reason they haven’t issued them their tan uniforms yet. Reminds me of the Egypt thing, the working people there didn’t protest either.
I find it interesting that the crew at Lew Rockwell’s website have absolutely no interest in what’s happening in Wisconsin.
MY HERO!!!
Sooner or later a state-controled economy needs a thug corps to keep the rabble (i.e. you and me) in line without overusing the uniformed police forces – who are still largely local and whose loyalty to the fed cannot be taken for granted.
SEIU members comprising mostly low-wage and illegal immigrants, and public sector unions such as AFSCME among others are potential sources of street soldiers.
SEIU beat downs of counter-demonstrators, the Black Panther voter intimidation in Philly, among other incidents seem to me to add up to what violence professionals call “the interview,” that stage of violent crime “where the criminal decides upon your suitability as a victim.”
So call me a right-wing paranoid and go back to sleep.
Labor Unions are criminal gangs, licensed by Democrat politicians in exchange for union member votes. They use coercion to extort money from employers and, in the case of Public Employee Labor Unions, from the citizenry at large. That this incestuous relationship would lead to the bankruptcy of states controlled by Democrats, including Wisconsin, was inevitable. They must be abolished.
Here in Wisconsin the observation is often made: Madison is 5 square miles of liberalism completely surrounded by reality.
CAELAN – Lew Rockwell posted this article making the Wisconsin battle into one between the (evil) Koch brothers and the labor Unions:
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/02/krugman-explains-wisconsin-power-game.html
so this is an example of when I disagree with the Rockwellians (who often cannot distinguish between imperfect and evil or between Reagan and Stalin).
“OFF THE PIGS” – as Reagan did with PATCO was proper. I would have been upset if he tried to jail the PATCO workers – not only do I think they have a right to strike but as far as I am concerned, they are still striking. And if the Wisconsin “teachers” do not want to teach – that is fine too. What they do not have a “right” to is a monopolistic job, unlimited access to the taxpayer’s pockets, etc. The reason the OINK sector got oinky is because the politicians who should have had the taxpayer’s interest in mind sided with the tax feeders.
COLLUSION between politicians and special interests is EVIL. If it is Democratic politicians and unions, it is evil. If it is Republican politicians and certain businesses it is also evil. But give credit where credit is due when politicians actually guard the interests of the taxpayer.