STATE OF THE UNIONS
Most everything has it’s peaks and valleys and most everything has its prime time and then fades as time goes by. True for civilizations, passion, and politics. Very few things have staying power that defies this general rule. John Wayne, Elvis Presley, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Einstein, etc. The point I want to make is that Unions had their greatest contributions to society quite a long time ago: the 8 hour day, child labor laws, fair pay, fair play, health care, and more. But after their days of glory when they contributed so much, they are now in decline. Their rules have stiffened, their demands have passed over the line (whatever that means, other than a symbolic line) and have been pushed back hard. Their continued success relies on getting everyone riled up to fight again for fair rights.
Thanks to the Governor of Wisconsin and a few other Republican Governors, the public is siding with the Unions and giving them new energy. Management, Government and the Public Sector can negotiate with the Unions and say ‘no’ to a demand they think is unfair or unreasonable or too expensive. Union people will listen to the problems and back off some of their demands as they did in Wisconsin. The States with collective bargaining rights are generally doing better economically than Free Work States, which shows that ‘collective bargaining’ is not a problem; it’s just something the Republicans can do without. Since Unions pour money and manpower into elections to try to elect Democrats, anything Republicans can do to weaken them is an important goal.
Republicans think that anything they can do to win is justified. Nothing else matters. The truth, be damned. Since poor people and young people and black people tend to vote Democrat, our Republican friends think it is a good idea to try to eliminate as many of those voters as possible. A modern day poll tax is the answer. All through the United States, Republican governors and legislatures are setting up “Voter ID’ scams insisting that forcing people to have photo ID cards in order to vote will prevent voter fraud. What it will prevent is the poor, old, black, latino, and young people from voting. In some states a student ID card is not sufficient! A great many - in the millions - people will not be able to vote who are entitled to vote. The concepts of democracy does not apply to ‘rights’ that don’t give them an advantage. This voter limitation is the true ‘voter fraud’.
Written by Buffy Sainte-Marie and sung by Jim and Jean
