Posted on 02/19/2011 4:09:28 AM PST by kevkrom
The union-led school closures and demonstrations in Madison have left most ordinary Americans shaking their heads in disbelief. Months ago, I penned a message to my fellow union brothers and sisters when I found myself on the receiving end of union boss Richard Trumka’s wrath. Yesterday’s demonstrations reminded me of the full-page ads taken out against me when I put my foot down in dealing with union demands while I served as governor. My message then and now to good union brothers and sisters is that you have another option. You don’t have to kowtow to the union bosses who are not looking out for you, but instead are using you. You can join millions of other union members in a commonsense movement to help fight for the right causes in our great country – for budgets that share the burden in a truly fair way and for commonsense reforms that take power away from vested interests like union bosses and big business lobby groups, and put it back where it belongs – with “We the People.”
Here we are still struggling to get out of a deep recession and coping with high unemployment, record deficits, rapidly rising food prices, and a host of other economic problems; and Wisconsin union bosses want union members out in the streets demanding that taxpayers foot the bill for unsustainable benefits packages. I am a friend to hard working union members and to teachers. I come from a family of teachers; my grandparents, parents, brother, sister, aunt, and other relatives worked, or still work, in education. My own children attend public schools. I greatly admire good teachers and will always speak up in defense of the teaching profession. But Wisconsin teacher unions do themselves no favor by closing down classrooms and abandoning children’s needs in protest against the sort of belt-tightening that people everywhere are going through. Union brothers and sisters: this is the wrong fight at the wrong time. Solidarity doesn’t mean making Wisconsin taxpayers pay for benefits that are not sustainable and affordable at a time when many of these taxpayers struggle to hold on to their own jobs and homes. Real solidarity means everyone being willing to sacrifice and carry our share of the burden. It does no one any favors to dismiss the sacrifices others have already had to make—in wage cuts, unpaid vacations, and even job losses—to weather our economic storm.
Hard working, patriotic, and selfless union brothers and sisters: please don’t be taken in by the union bosses. At the end of day, they’re not fighting for your pension or health care plan or even for the sustainability of Wisconsin’s education budget. They’re fighting to protect their own powerful privileges and their own political clout. The agenda for too many union bosses is a big government agenda that only serves the union bosses themselves – not union members, not union families, and certainly not the larger community. Everybody else is just there to foot the bill; and if that bill eventually takes the form of thousands of teachers and other public sectors workers losing their jobs because the state of Wisconsin can no longer afford to keep them on the payroll, that’s a risk the union bosses are willing to take as long as their positions are secure. Union brothers and sisters: you are better than this and you deserve better. Don’t be led astray.
One final word of warning to my fellow Americans: back in 2009, I warned about what would happen if states accepted short-term unsustainable debt-ridden “Stimulus Package” funds. Accepting those funds allowed states to grow government, increase already unsustainable levels of spending, kick the can down the road on reforming entitlements, and create public expectations that they would continue financing these new mandates once the federal funds ran out. States were not in a position to grow government and take on new financial commitments then, and now the chickens have come home to roost. As goes Wisconsin today, so goes the country tomorrow.
- Sarah Palin
New tagline...
Like I said about these PDSers, it doesnt matter what she says or does, it’s something wrong.....it’s nuts and looney!
Were you attempting to make a logical point?
Be sure and let us know if you ever manage to make one in the near future.
I just don't understand the obfuscation. Given that polling data from Politico yesterday, why would any Republican, let alone a conservative candidate, do or say anything that wasn't clearly and explicitly supportive of Walker's initiatives. That poll said that not even a majority of Democrats supported public service unions and they weren't just talking about their right to collectively bargain, but their right to exist, period. THAT is powerful public sentiment.
Now is not the time for negotiating, nor the time for olive branches. Conservatives are in a position of strength and they should use that lever until exhaustion.
Won't be for long, when the Republicans do what they always do, bring flowers and wet spaghetti noodles to a battle that's being fought with fixed bayonets.
You talk about rich. You accused Palin of riding the fence. I point out that Walker is also “riding the fence” on several of these issues and you try to dodge and change the subject. saying that Walker has a hidden plan to wipe out unions by taking small bites giving him the benefit of the doubt yet you immediately assume the worse about Gov Palin. Can you say double standard. We get it you don't like palin.
Okay, incrementalism from Scott Walker is a good thing, while incrementalism from Sarah Palin, is "an essay of love".
yeap. the Satan Sarah always got to be wrong in their eyes. no matter what...
LOL...no projection needed. Simply reading your comments tells anyone who wnats to listen where you stand.
There's nothing "incremental" in Palin's essay. She does not address collective bargaining, at all, nor does she address forced union membership. Instead, she pens a bizarre letter to members to fight against their "union bosses".
This has NOTHING to do with union bosses. It has everything to do with legislation that is being held up by Democrats trying to subvert the will of the people.
""Governor Scott Walker is making tough choices needed to avoid financial ruin. The nation's governors don't need a lecture from a President who has never balanced a budget. All levels of government need to bring public employee compensation in line with the private sector. The gig is up for public employee groups who demand better benefits than the taxpayers who are paying the bill. I'm confident Governor Walker's reforms will succeed in Wisconsin. Stand strong, Scott -- average taxpayers everywhere are rooting for you."
If you're so ambiguous in your position that your getting out-flanked on the right by Tim Pawlenty, you've got problems - big, giant problems.
hush now. the logic might frighten him....
I don't want a Republican "reaching out" to union members. I want Republicans taking very large clubs and beating them back into the sewers they crawled out of. "Reaching out" QUICKLY turns into "reaching around". Just saying.
Well, can you blame them? If America’s “toughest” conservative, Sarah Palin, can’t do anything but whisper sweet nothings into the ears of her union “brothers & sisters”, how can “normal” Republicans do anything other than roll over and wet themselves.
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If this was on her FB page it is directed to her followers...how many of those do you think are union teachers? How do you suppose the union teachers will even hear about her FB letter?
Taft-Hartley is an abomination like Dred Scott.
Forcing a worker to pay dues or be fired is a civil rights issue, and public sector and private sector forced unionization is akin to Slavery.
Time to cut the marxists off at the knees.
There are plenty of labor laws in place to protct workers, trade unions are unamerican and compulsory dues illegal under natural law.
We need Rosa parks types to refuse to pay dues and sue unions that try to have them fired.
Make it illegal for dues to be deducted from any workers pay check.
Time to Wipe these Marxist red sons of bitches out.
As well as “Presidential” wanna-bee’s who support them.....
New tagline...
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