The People vs. The Workers??
Earlier today, MoveOn.org sent around an email labeling Governor Walker as a “tea party governor” who is giving tax breaks to (read: those evil) “business owners.” Rather than explaining that he is taking on Big Government Debt in the name of the People, for the benefit of the People, MoveOn assails him as leveling “one of the boldest assaults on workers and the middle class” in recent memory.
MoveOn pits “middle class Americans—teachers, nurses, firefighters” against the rest of America’s middle class families, working families, teachers, nurses and firefighters.
A comment posted today at OFA stated “We will not give up. This is just the beginning. We are fathers, mothers, nurses, highway workers, law enforcement.”
Which prompts me to ask "Just who are America’s working families?"
For the leftwing cabal, you aren’t entitled to the “working family” moniker if you work hard and long, but earn above a certain level of income, i.e., above $250,000 per annum. It doesn't matter if you and your spouse each work two jobs to earn this income. You just don't qualify as "working." Nor are nurses, teachers, construction workers, small business owners, law enforcement personnel or even low-income families considered “workers or middle class" IF they happen to support lower taxes, pension reform or conservative candidates.
MoveOn closes by asking members to change their facebook status to "Today I stand with the teachers, nurses, and all public employees of Wisconsin who are fighting for their rights.”
What about standing with the mothers, fathers, working and middle class families of Wisconsin who voted for a Republican majority in the Wisconsin State Senate and the 52% of the People who voted for Republican Governor Walker?
Are they not People too? Or are some people "more equal than others?"
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Aug '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
"Rights"? Rights to what?
To not contribute to one's retirement or health care plan?
I guess so. If we're all to be taken care of for free, it's a violation of our rights to be expected to contribute.
This is an object lesson about allowing the terminology to shift the substance of the debate: is it about gross compensation, or about your "right to a safe retirement"?
The sad thing is the end best result is for all current employees to be allowed to retire with their sweetheart deals intact, but all future retirees to contribute to a "defined contribution" plan. Is it squish of me to hope that we get there as soon as possible, and start being grown-ups thereafter?
Feb '11
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Not squish at all...
Sep '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Wisconsin state employees currently pay nothing (zero dollars per annum) towards their defined benefit pension.
Retire at 55, move to Florida (to avoid the onerous Wisco state income tax) and laugh all the way to the bank.
All they're missing is a swift kick to my [Ed.: vulgarity deleted].
But it's all about the kids, so keep your mouth shut and open your wallet.
Edited on Feb 18, 2011 at 11:13pmJul '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Workers?
I thought workers were members of the communist party.
Shouldn't we have employees in a free market economy?
Workers of the world unite to bilk the employees of the world I guess.
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What they are really squeeling so loudly about is a little piece in the legislation which will prohibit the government from collecting the Union Dues and make the Union collect the dues (meaning members will have to mail them a check) themselves.
And, Oh By The Way, it will also prohibit the union from Requiring membership in order for public employees to keep their jobs.
Dec '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Gern Agonistes:
The sad thing is the end best result is for all current employees to be allowed to retire with their sweetheart deals intact, but all future retirees to contribute to a "defined contribution" plan. Is it squish of me to hope that we get there as soon as possible, and start being grown-ups thereafter? · Feb 18 at 10:32pm
I don't think that's the best end result. If someone will be working for the next n years, said someone should pay for their own retirement during that period.
You can't back charge those who've already retired on public funds. But if they haven't yet retired, they need to contribute.
Jan '11
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
For the left wing cabal there is no nobility in providing for oneself, only in forcing some to provide for others.
May '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Is it insensitive of me to refer to public school teachers as glorified babysitters? OK, that's not PC. What I meant to say was the highest-paid part-time job in the world.
Jun '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
As a teacher I see many colleagues who think being employed is the same thing as being productive. Such people believe their noble sentiments trump results. After all, they "care for the children." When asked about a problem their answer always begins with "I feel" rather than "I think." We know the opposition.
The problem with public education is threefold. The results are putrid. The costs are unsustainable. And the teacher's unions provide a bedrock of support for Democratic party, ideological as well as financial. Cuts in public education, especially teacher retirement plans, are necessary, but insufficient to restoring our republic as the Founders created it.
The public education monopoly must be broken. School vouchers will unleash the power of the market which will provide better results and efficiency. Governor Walker has begun the first Battle of Bull Run. It's a start. Expect a long and bloody war before it's done.
Feb '11
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
"For the leftwing cabal, you aren’t entitled to the “working family” moniker if you work hard and long, but earn above a certain level of income, i.e., above $250,000 per annum"
But they consider it socially acceptable, even admirable, to get paid more than $250K as long as you do it in an appropriate way: as a college president, for example, or a "nonprofit" executive, or, best of all as a lawyer/politician.
Jun '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
I'm just amazed at the knee jerk support I hear for this union rally. I'm seeing some Irish musicians on Facebook post lyrics to songs & poems about the bad old days when workers were brutalized by greedy industrialists and landlords:
"The copper bosses killed ya Joe they filled ya full of lead
Takes more than guns to kill a man, sez Joe and I ain't dead"
It's as if they've been asleep for decades, completely unaware of how the pendulum has swung & the unions are the abusers.
Jun '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Sally: You could change "copper bosses" to "union bosses" and use this lyric for a tea party counter-rally.
May '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Niiice. I don't have Like button functionality. Though I somehow think folk music and Tea Parties don't perhaps entirely mix.
Jun '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
"Though I somehow think folk music and Tea Parties don't perhaps entirely mix."
Ha ha! But they should mix. Much of folk music's subject matter is fighting the power, sticking up for the oppressed little guy. Now the unions are the power, and the taxpayers are the oppressed. It's a good fit, and I'd love to see tea party types appropriating the folk lyrics of Pete Seeger, the Waltons, and the whole tradition. It would be quite fun! I'll have to think of a folk hero song that would work with Chris Christie & Walker as a tag team, swinging fists, busting heads, and standing up to "the man."
Jul '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Kennedy Smith
Niiice. I don't have Like button functionality. Though I somehow think folk music and Tea Parties don't perhaps entirely mix. · Feb 19 at 6:29am
With folk music, it is all about the song selection. Remember Bob Roberts? I always thought that "Maggie's Farm" was a wonderful rebuttal of the communal left. There's a kicking electric version on Dylan's Hard Rain album. Idiot Wind also adapts nicely from the same album. Steal their music, watch them bluster and moan.
Even the Lord may use the devil's words to his own purposes.
Jun '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
"Steal their music, watch them bluster and moan."
Yes, it would be so much fun to watch!
May '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Yes, yes, but we're taking our eyes off the ball here. The whole point of folk music is for it to be roundly mocked as vapid.
I mean, stealing their music would be like stealing their clown shoes. Sure, it'd tick em off, but it wouldn't make us look stylish.
Edited on Feb 19, 2011 at 7:26amFeb '11
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
"Though I somehow think folk music and Tea Parties don't perhaps entirely mix"
There are a lot of connections among folk music, country music, and bluegrass, the latter two having of course been traditionally strong among the Jacksonian elements in American culture.
Feb '11
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
Sticker Shock: that's one of the things about the SF Tea Party that's so special. We do STEAL their music, slogans, etc. At our last tea party we did a version of Bye Bye Miss American Pie...and we had everyone wear flowers in their hair if they were going to the SF TP. We played all sorts of music that went w/ our theme that they lay claim to. When we protested O before the last election we had T-shirts that had a Red CA, the date of the election and "HOPE you like the CHANGE. We do chants to "Hey, Hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?"
In sum, we like to OUT Alinsky, the Alinskyites...Join us sometime. If you like I can send you the Pie lyrics.
Aug '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
"Which prompts me to ask 'Just who are America’s working families?' For the leftwing cabal, you aren’t entitled to the “working family” moniker if you work hard and long...."
I work at a major university. The campus unions view me as a member of a "working family" when they want to organize me, collect dues from me, get me to vote their way. The professors view me as a member of a "working family" as long as I agree with their political world view, vote Democrat, and don't ask for a raise.
Let me speak my mind, instead of parrot what a PhD or a union boss tells me, and suddenly I'm no longer a "worker" who deserves support. Instead, I am a uppity, racist, moron teabagger. I no longer have "rights" that need protecting. I deserve to be ostracized and punished. My income doesn't change from case to case. The only thing that changes is the master I chose to serve or not serve. Funny how that works.
Jun '10
Re: The People vs. The Workers??
I for one LOVE folk music, especially Irish & bluegrass. Just not the rabidly political stuff.
Sally -- print the AMerican Pie lyrics here. I think we'd all enjoy them.