Two Americas: One Struggling – One Happy, Unionized, and in Government

(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.

(Mr. Huston writes The Union Label Blog)