Posted on 03/14/2011 9:04:02 AM PDT by Doctor 2Brains
I’m distressed by the fact that the emerging narrative on unions, (even among conservatives, and this is horrifying for what it means for the future of the country) seems to run like this,
“Public sector unions are REALLY bad. There are some bad things in private sector unions, too, but they aren’t pure evil like public sector unions. Private sector unions, especially at the turn of the century, were actually pretty good.”
This is pure BS! It is very, very, very scary when, even here on FR for Pete’s sake, people do not recognize the following two things:
Unions can ONLY!!!! exist because of government force applied selectively against private property owners (evil, rich people),
ALL UNIONS REPRESENT GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED THEFT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF BUYING DEMOCRAT VOTES.
I expect ignorance of these facts elsewhere, but here on FR??????????????????????
Here’s how the purely evil, anti-American, communistic, welfare-begging private sector unions work…..
I set up a business, using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY (my capital and/or cash money). I pay for the space, using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY. I pay the taxes using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY. I supply the parts and inventory, using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY. I pay for the insurance, using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY. I pay the labor, using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY. I recruit, hire, and advertise, using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY. Oftentimes an entire life’s savings (MY PRIVATE PROPERTY) is at stake. My future, my standing in the community, my credit, and MY PRIVATE PROPERTY are all at stake. If I fail, I stand a good chance of being economically crippled for life.
One day, on MY PRIVATE PROPERTY that I own and acquired using MY PRIVATE PROPERTY, one of my employees, who is only in my presence because of the risk of MY PRIVATE PROPERTY, comes to me and says, “Here’s the story, Bub. From this moment forward I am going to begin organizing YOUR OTHER EMPLOYEES, to work AGAINST YOUR PRIVATE INTERESTS and do everything in our power to TAKE BY FORCE AS MUCH OF YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY AS WE CAN GET OUR HANDS ON. We are going to spend a great deal of time and effort ORGANIZING AGAINST YOUR INTERESTS TO DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO GROW STRONGER AT YOUR EXPENSE, IN ORDER TO TAKE YOUR MONEY. You might as well have your business competitors working here on the shop floor. If you do not agree to our demands, we will go on strike, make your life miserable, harass and threaten and/or MURDER IN COLD BLOOD anybody you may want to hire in our place.”
Now the one and ONLY way that such a thing could EVER take place is for the government to step in and say, “Mr. Employer (rich, white, capitalist, male), if you fire this union man, you are going to jail.”
Plainly and simply, no union could ever exist in a free society. Yes, in a free society, you should be able to form and join a union of any type at any time for any purpose whatsoever. AND YOUR EMPLOYER SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIRE YOUR HAPPY ASS IN A HEARTBEAT FOR DOING SO.
FREEDOM IS A TWO WAY STREET.
I find this ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Truly. A man strolls onto the PRIVATE PROPERTY of another man and tells him how he will employ his PRIVATE PROPERTY going forward, OR ELSE!, and hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people the world over think that the first man is not only somehow better than sub-human filth, they actually see him as a hero! To me, this is one of the most perverse and mystifying examples of twisted human thinking the world has ever seen. I can’t say it enough; you come onto my PRIVATE PROPERTY, and bargain with me, using the THREAT OF GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED FORCE, about how much of my PRIVATE PROPERTY you will allow me to keep! And this is somehow acceptable?
As I say, even conservatives, (who have escaped the liberal brainwashing that begins when we are still in the womb on guns, race, US history, etc., etc., and do not subscribe to the easy notions that are so readily picked up by the unthinking) seem to fall for this trap. Seem to believe that…
“The work place is filled with mean managers and mean bosses who were/are really mean to kids and women and workers and paid them pennies instead of the legitimate millions that they were REALLY worth, making evil white male capitalists even richer, and they enslaved them and coerced them and made them work real hard and were really, really mean. THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for the government stepping in and saving women and children from mean bosses and really mean white capitalist men.”
Needless to say, each and every single word of that narrative is as totally false and ridiculous as the liberal narrative on US history, or bad guns, or evil white men. If you know people who believe that stuff, you cannot help them. DO NOT waste your breath on them, DO NOT do their research for them; have them read Sowell or Williams or von Hayek, or von Mises, or Friedman, or even Stossel when they write of “sweatshops” either in today’s 3rd world or in America at the turn of the century.
The antagonism engendered by unionism ("us vs. them") is a profit-killing, productivity-killing force that yields irreparable harm to an enterprise. The archaic workrules enforced by unions hurts not only the business but also the employees.
Indeed, in an ideal world, all unions would be abolished. But since there is a protected right of association, that's admittedly unrealistic (although I do dream of how RICO might be applied to render unions ineffective). At the very least, RIGHT TO WORK should be nationwide. My experience has been that when forced unionism is no longer mandated, workers will eschew the tyranny of labor bossism.
You did NOT read it. All unions ARE gov’t sanctioned theft. Private property owners are FORCED BY LAW to turn over their property to democrat voters even though said democrat voters are organizing against said property owners. You fire the welfare beggar, you break the law.
YES! We conservatives do NOT fall for any of the age-old, liberal crap on guns, US history, evil white people, evil capitalism, etc. But half of us buy the “unions are OK” crap, and 99% of us buy the “Unions were GREAT at the turn of the century” crap. We ALL pretend to read Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams (probably because they’re black, and we think that makes it cool) but TS and WW have written extensively on unions at the turn of the century and sweatshops, and explained in very clear and beautiful English, why unions were theft even then. Talking unions (even with conservatives) is like talking assault rifles with Katie Couric.
Actually it probably is possible;it just requires making sacrifices like abandoning one's family and community ties,selling one's personal property at a huge loss and starting over for a wage sufficient to buy noodle soup and a cot in a flophouse.
If the employers of the late 1800 hadn't been so uncaring and abusive of their workers then the unions would not have gained members.
Yet there are many companies that resisted unions to this day by treating their employees as fairly as possible whilst still maintaining a profit for the owners.
A slave will work only as little as he can get by with,for what incentive has he to work harder?
_________________________________________________
A) Please provide actual examples of instances where the government jailed a business owner for firing a union member.
B) You reveal quite a bit by assuming that only white males are employers.
C) Shouting, or in this case screaming, only makes you look childish.
I guess you didn’t get the “conservative” memo.........if you open your private property to the public (hire anyone, sell anything to the public, invite the public in, etc...) you are now a public place and thus they can tell you what to do with your private property.
My exact thoughts.
If you watch Obama-Koolaid drinkers like Matthews on MSNBC they always ask Republicans questions intended to split them from either their moderate voters or their conservative base based on the answer. Democrats understand the idea of demoralizing the other side as a strategy.
Alternatively you see many ‘conservative’ Republicans that seem think that motivating the Democrats politically is a good end in itself, they think taking a stand and losing is winning. Winning is beating the Democrats on an issue with public approval on your side on election day. The best way to do this is to promote Democrat internal fights.
Boy, you’ve swallowed ALL the lib crap. Prove to me that you’ve read the cited authors in my piece, all of whom have written extensively on those mean old bosses who were just so darn mean, and then get back to me. OBVIOUSLY, you’ve heard all that Michael Moore has to say on the subject, but not a syllable from Friedman or Sowell.
Unions were never necessary in the first place. The history of unionism parallels that of statism and Communism as evidenced by the Wobblies (IWW) among numerous others. Many of the early unions were founded by foreigners, often with Russian roots, intent upon overthrowing America.
In line with the original post in this thread, the entire premise of unions is built upon an evil foundation. Unionism is in direct opposition to individual freedom and liberty. In short, "biting that hand that feeds you" is at the heart of the labor union modus operandi.
If Conservatives (or Republicans- not the same thing) start a fight with the unions then West Virginia will turn from red to blue next election. Probably a few other states also.
Do your own research, Michael Moore. It is against the law to fire people for being in a union or going on strike. You reveal quite a bit by not knowing this and you look childish.
NEVER necessary is 100% correct. If you believe differently, you’ve heard everything Michael Moore has to say on the subject, and nothing Friedman or Sowell has to say.
Except that the unions in the private sector are dying off while government unions are growing. Let’s focus on getting rid of the one that is doing the most damage, government unions.
You may very well be correct, however, I was commenting upon the concept of private property rather than unions per se.
I agree completely. I’m only trying to correct the notion among dummies that private sector unions are not evil representatives of democrat party theft of private property in the interest of destroying capitalism and America and Western heritage and men, and capitalists, and white people, etc.
You can't so your reply changed your statement quite a bit...from firing a union member to firing a worker because he is a union member or for striking...big difference.
Maybe you should find some sixth grader to proof read your next gift to us of your genius.
The fallacy in your argument is that your enterprise consists solely of your property. If machinery and buildings and equipment could do everything you need done, you wouldn’t be hiring workers. So your employees become an integral part of your company’s success.
They also acquire a vested interest in its effective management, since their livelihoods (and by extension, the welfare of their families) depend on the company remaining viable. Not to mention that they risk their health, their limbs, even their lives to earn a paycheck for themselves and drive a profit for you.
The real tragedies of unions is that they create an artificially adversarial relationship between labor and managements (where in truth that relationship is symbiotic), and that they were ever necessary in the first place.
I agree with your assessment 100%. Has Michael Moore infiltrated the ranks of Free Republic? Or have Mother Jones, Eugene V. Debs, Bill Haywood, Sam Gompers and Jimmy Hoffa obtained computer access from eternal Hell to post responses here?
There is a symbiotic relationship between the Democrat party and labor unions. They feed and thrive on each other. If patriots take measures to bust (or at the very least frustrate) the union movement, it strikes a direct blow at the Democrats and is a positive move forward for freedom and liberty.
One of the proudest accomplishments of my long life was to decertify a private sector labor union. That successful campaign was done in Western Pennsylvania, a hotbed of pro-unionism. Once the union was removed from our workplace, we no longer were constrained by archaic rules and the business became more efficient and profitable. We employees enjoyed greater freedom and saw a nice pay increase. Plus we no longer had to pay the coercive union dues. Liberty was victorious over union tyranny.
Get your mommy to help you with the big words. I changed nothing. Your reading comprehension is atrocious.
Knock off the personal abuse.
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