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
One must ask: What’s next? A one-fist salute?
Bingo! Sarah is El Diablo to these folks! They attack her more than they attack Obama - Sarah probably knows how Jewish people feel everywhere.... No matter what it’s get fault! LOL!
Bingo! Sarah is El Diablo to these folks! They attack her more than they attack Obama - Sarah probably knows how Jewish people feel everywhere.... No matter what it’s get fault! LOL!
comparing apples and pineapples is all fine and good but it makes you seem dense.
I don't see any call for a stand down by TPAw to the union rank and file in his statement do you. Does this mean TPAW hates teachers? No it means they were addressing different groups.
Palin understands, unlike you, that the the union leader's power is based on the rank and file. That the rank and file in the streets the union leadership is powerless. She called on those rank and file to not be used by the union bosses. To consider their own good instead of the union bosses.
the dems that ran away ran away for one reason. Their hope is to bring enough pressure in the form of protesters to make Walker and the GOP buckle. Palin understands what the dems are trying to do and instead of building a barricade is trying to decrease the power the dems can bring to bear......
but you know maybe that level of strategic thinking is above your level of understanding. you seem to like the concept of We good they bad....
nothing to do with union bosses? god are you blind.
How many times must someone tell you that this isn't about "unions and their leaders" before you get it?
The union's power doesn't come from its leadership - it comes directly from state law that allows them to hold states, counties and cities hostage through the collective bargaining process. THAT is what this fight is about.
This is about state LEGISLATORS and the initiatives they're trying to enact. I don't give a hoot if the union membership elects Bugs Bunny to represent them. It's WHOLLY immaterial. What I care about is Scott Walker and the Republican legislators passing the laws that need to be passed to save the state from financial ruin.
If you don't like Palin, that is fine. However, in this case she is trying to do her part to go after the union leaders. You could have just chosen to ignore her statement, but here you are attacking her, when we have very crucial things going on Wisconsin. This is what conservatives and tea partiers have been struggling for the last two years. It is a make or break situation, where we need to stand with those who are in a position to make positive changes. You have chosen to attack one of those on our side. You look like you are part of the problem not the solution.
Breitbart is supposed to go to the rally in Wisconsin today. Though I have recently disagreed with him recently, I fully support him going and being there. I am not going to grumble, whine and moan about his shortcomings.
It is time show a united front against a powerful and relentless faction. I am in no mood to get into an argument today with PDS'ers. Today is an important day, just like that first teaparty rally. Bye.
So, Sarah Palin destroys that unity by calling that faction her brothers and sisters.
Why wouldn't they? It reinforces the union position, and highlights a chasm dividing Republicans.
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.IOW the states, having been seduced, are about to be abandoned if not enslaved.
What came first?
The Union, or the “corrupt power structure”?
The “corrupt power structure” is the RESULT of the union in the first place. Which cannot exist without the union supporting it.
Can you spell Human Nature?
It's not worth debating them, they cannot comprehend anything other beyond their infantile rigidity.
One of them was complaining of not have any pics of Sarah in this thread though...his point was we are askeeered or something.
So this is for all the haters.
Cause...
haters gonna hate...
Obambi does not have the billions to buy the teachers unions right now, like he did just before the 2010 elections.
Now that that money has dried up... like we told them it would... they want to ‘protest’ for more.
STICK TO YOUR GUNS WALKER!~!!
In other words, you are confusing a logical and well explained opinion with an emotional reaction. Because some here give good reasons for not supporting Palin, the reactive accusation is that they are “haters”.
It merely points out your limited ability to debate in a civil manner. That's all.
And who do you think is backing and urging, funding those dems that ran across the state lines? Paying for the protests, urging the teachers to call out sick, causing parents to call off work to care for the kids as schools across the state close. Applying pressure to the GOP to buckle as the work stoppage builds.
bugs bunny/
No, the key is changing the laws that give them the power in the first place. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The laws in many states give absolute power to the unions.
It seems that Palin, for whatever reason, is unwilling to state the obvious. Changes the laws, and you de-fang the unions - it won't matter who their leadership is (or isn't).
Of course, expressly stating that you want the laws changed, means that you have to pick a side. She might not want to offend her "brothers & sisters".
I must have struck a nerve.
It’s so funny. Make a blanket statement and watch to see who self identifies.
I should have added to my post...
If this offends you, well, you know who you are.
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