tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post4825017533526892564..comments2024-01-16T03:42:46.705-05:00Comments on The Downward Spiral: Recall Election Wankery in WisconsinBill Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-60053066739384452952012-06-06T22:25:38.219-04:002012-06-06T22:25:38.219-04:00If you ever wondered how the Nazis came to power, ...If you ever wondered how the Nazis came to power, just look at what's going on here and now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-56271031455859134542012-06-06T16:35:11.780-04:002012-06-06T16:35:11.780-04:00Bill Hicks:
The unions couldn't stand togethe...Bill Hicks:<br /><br />The unions couldn't stand together 40 years ago because they were too busy fighting with the hippies. I heard they absolutely hated them, and it caused some serious issues on the left.<br /><br />Human nature is corrupt. The public unions are no exception. <br /><br />I think what really makes them useless is what makes all of it useless; people are afraid to strike back at power for fear of arrest and losing the job in a bad economy. I saw a meeting about trying to form a grad student union (illegal in this state - they were petitioning to change the law to make it legal). The dudes had an existing organization, but they were basically compliant. They would never strike, even if it WERE legal, even if they had the union. Despite being angry at their situation, they were classical in-the-box thinkers and advocates of "dialog". In the system thinkers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-92101182932815112642012-06-06T12:25:03.034-04:002012-06-06T12:25:03.034-04:00Excellent post Bill, right on target.Excellent post Bill, right on target.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-49693809552430729012012-06-06T11:13:59.049-04:002012-06-06T11:13:59.049-04:00Huey - excellent points. The unions should have a...Huey - excellent points. The unions should have all stood together starting 40 years ago when these trends started and recognized their own complacency (not simply becoming shill advocates for bad employees would have been a great start). To paraphrase Ben Franklin, by not hanging together they are now all hanging separately.Bill Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-1140370813294962822012-06-06T10:24:34.182-04:002012-06-06T10:24:34.182-04:00“This sad state of affairs is going to continue un...“This sad state of affairs is going to continue until you accept one incontrovertible fact: that the Democratic Party may actually be a bigger enemy to your cause than the Republicans.”<br /><br />Bill, I think you are absolutely right about this. The hypocrisy of the Dems – paying lip service to progressive values and playing identity politics, while enabling the corporatocracy every bit as much as Repubs – places them on an even lower rung in hell than the Repubs, in my opinion.<br /><br />And I’m not surprised that the Wisconsin recall failed. It is pure naiveté for the Dems to believe that voters will flock en masse to address the plight of public employees being subject to the same economic ravages private sector employees have faced for years, whether in Wisconsin or nationwide. And to be honest, some of the criticisms of public sector unions and their members are justified. In Massachusetts, state employees enjoy much better job security and benefits - including health care, time off for vacation, sickness or maternity, employment protections, and restrictions on unpaid overtime - than their private sector counterparts. These perks used to be justified on the grounds that public sector jobs don’t pay as well as those in the private sector – except that this hasn’t been true for about twenty years. And while there are many outstanding, dedicated, hard-working, true public servants out there, there is also no shortage of lazy do-nothings and outright scam artists - and the public sector unions protect them. The fact is, many public sector workers don’t have the slightest clue about what it’s like to work in the private sector, and couldn’t have cared less until their own gigs were threatened; these types are every bit as clueless, selfish and entitled as wealthy tax dodgers. I know this because I worked for the state for eight years, in one of the larger state unions, and saw these things first-hand.<br /><br />Now some will argue that this attitude just plays into the hands of Walker, the Kochs and their ilk, who are out to break ALL workers. Fair enough. But the fact remains that for the most part the public sector unions stood by while the Corp-Gov syndicate passed NAFTA, declawed Glass-Steagall, broadened visa programs for lower-paid guest workers, and perpetrated myriad other schemes that have all but destroyed the working class and are well into doing the same to the middle class. <br /><br />No legitimate opposition will come from any part of the current establishment structure, including the unions, public or private. It must come from outside. The time for reforming the system from within has passed.~https://www.blogger.com/profile/07775795950513629761noreply@blogger.com