By 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.